Thomas & Friends: The King Returns
by DaveMan1000
Summary: Thomas and his friends have discovered that they are the reincarnations of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. They must now fulfill their destinies to save, restore and preserve the legacy of their past lives. But can they do it before the reincarnation of Sir Mordred stops them?
1. The Beginning and the New Generation

Hello everybody, DaveMan1000 here with my first **_official_** story. This story is a collaboration between **JediRhydon101st** and myself. The original story was done by him, but after extensive editing by myself, it has become what you are about to read now and he has given me permission to submit it here while he posts the chapters on his deviantART. Credit for the story material goes to him, I'm simply spreading it around to more people.

Contains elements from the BBC series _Merlin_.

This story is rated 'T' ('12' where I'm from) for some scenes of violence, bad language and sexual themes.

 _Thomas & Friends_ © HiT Entertainment & Mattel

 _The Railway Series_ © Rev Wilbert Awdry

 _Merlin_ © Shine Limited & Shine Group

* * *

 ** _Thomas & Friends: The King Returns  
_**\- Written by JediRhydon101st & DaveMan1000 -

\- **Prologue** -  
 _The Beginning and the New Generation_

 ** _Camelot, 600 BC_**

Downstream from Astolat and surrounded by plains and forests, the City of Camelot stood proud and mighty; with its bright and bustling town full of people going about their day to day lives, along with guards on patrol, the city's inner sanctum, where all the higher ranking citizens reside and the grand centre of the city, Camelot Castle; home of King Arthur Pendragon, his wife Queen Guinevere Pendragon and the Knights of the Round Table. The thriving capital of the kingdom was truly and beautiful and wondrous city.

At least, until the attack.

Camelot was under terrible fire from invading forces; the heavily fortified walls were under constant barrage from giant fireballs tossed by catapults and the Knights of Camelot were stationed in a defensive barrier outside the entrance to better combat the approaching army.

From the view of the castle's throne room balcony, a tall man with sapphire blue eyes, cobalt blue hair and dressed in royal blue garments complete with silver and yellow details, a red cape and a scabbard attached to a belt around his waist, watched with anguish as the kingdom burnt and the enemy continued to storm the city walls. The man, King Arthur himself, knew that despite the resistance of his bravest knights, there was no chance for Camelot, or anyone affiliated with the majestic city, to survive this onslaught. Especially since he knew that the one spearheading the attack was none other than Sir Mordred, one of his former knights, who had the advantage of knowing all the city's weak spots inside and out. Arthur had a hunch that this would be his final battle, but he wasn't going to allow the grand legacy that he and his knights had built together be undone by a man who once wore the Pendragon sigil.

 ** _*CREEEAAAK*_**

Arthur snapped out of his thoughts as the door to the throne room opened, and entered a woman who was slightly taller than him, with stunning gold eyes, golden blonde hair and was wearing a deep pink gown with jewelled gold details around the bust area and all along the hem of the dress, along with a pair of golden slippers. Arthur smiled at the woman; his beloved wife Queen Guinevere.

Behind her, he saw his trusty royal wizard Merlin, who had goldish yellow eyes, brown hair and was dressed in a dark brown garments and boots that were covered up by a dark grey cloak. Merlin's wife Nimue, who had light purple eyes, short black hair with yellow highlights and was wearing a black dress with yellow details and black slippers. Next to them was his older sister Morgana, the tallest of the three women; she had bluish green coloured eyes, long emerald green hair and was wearing a deep green sleeveless dress with dark gold details, complete with matching evening gloves and slippers.

Joining the rest of the group were five of Arthur's most trusted Knights of the Round Table, all of them decked out in their battle armour with different colour details. In the centre was Sir Lancelot, the shortest of the five knights, who had teal coloured eyes, bright green hair and matching colour details on his armour. Next to him was Sir Elyan, who was quite tall and lanky and had brown eyes with bright blue hair and armour details. Sir Gawain was next, who was as tall as Elyan, but much more stronger looking; he also had brown eyes, but dark red hair instead and splendid red armour details. Flanking Lancelot on the other side was Sir Percival, the tallest and toughest of the knights, who also had bright blue hair and matching details on his battle armour, as well as dark blue eyes. Finally there was Sir Leon, who was almost as big and bulky as Percival and had hazel coloured eyes, along with deep green hair and pure green armour details.

Seeing all his closest allies safe and sound brought a sense of happiness to Arthur, something that he needed more than anything at the current time. He approached the party of people that stood before him and embraced his wife in a hug. After pulling away, Arthur faced the rest of the group.

"My friends," he began solemnly. "I fear that our moment of defeat is upon us."

For each of the Knights of the Round Table, hearing their king make such a statement was a severe blow to their morale. It was especially disheartening for Guinevere to have to hear her husband say that, along with Merlin, Morgana and Nimue.

Arthur continued, "There is, however, one thing that we can do to right this wrong. A plan to eventually restore the proud legacy that we've all worked hard to build."

Everyone looked at Arthur, eager to hear his plan.

Arthur sighed and stated, "The nine of you must take the sword Excalibur, and hide it on the Island of Avalon."

This shocked the fraction of Arthur's court, as they did not expect to hear such a thing from their beloved king. Excalibur was King Arthur's greatest weapon, he never went into battle without it, and now he was sending it away with them, during Camelot's greatest and possibly final battle?

Guinevere was horrified. "Arthur! You can't ask me to take your sword and run, leaving you vulnerable to Mordred's attacks!" she exclaimed as tears began to form in her eyes. "Please, don't ask me to do that, I'm begging you Arthur."

Arthur gently wiped away a tear from his wife's face. "I don't want to ask this of you Gwen, believe me. But there's no other option."

Lancelot stepped forward. "Arthur please, I agree with Guinevere, you can't just ask us to turn our backs on Camelot and allow everything that we've all worked for be torn down by that traitor."

"Lancelot is right sire," Leon added. "It would be a stain on our honour if we left Camelot in its darkest hour."

"Not to mention the fact that it doesn't send a good image to the ladies," Gawain threw in, to which Percival responded by smacking him on the back of his head.

Ignoring the comment by Gawain, Merlin walked up to Arthur and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Arthur, over the years we've faced countless enemies and threats, each of them worse than even Mordred." Everyone muttered in agreement. "And now, after years of defending Camelot, years of having Excalibur by your side, you want us to just take it and leave you here alone? You won't stand a chance against Mordred without it!"

"Merlin's right!" agreed Nimue.

"Please brother," Morgana begged. "Doon't make us do this."

"You'll die without it!" Eylan exclaimed.

"It's your best sword sire!" Percival added.

Arthur listened to the plight of his friends; he had expected them to all object to his plan, but he knew it was the only choice he had.

 _"EVERYONE PLEASE!"_

The strength of his voice caused everyone in the room to fall silent. Taking a quick breath to recompose himself, Arthur continued. "I know you're all concerned for me, but it must be done if our legacy is to survive."

Arthur then unclasped the belt that held the scabbard with Excalibur and handed it to Guinevere. "Take Excalibur and go to the Island of Avalon; Vivien the Lady of the Lake has assured me that you will be safe there.

"But why your majesty?" Nimue asked. "Why do you want us to take your sword to Avalon specifically?"

Arthur hesitated; though knowing his reasoning was ludicrous, he decided to just state it as it was. "Because last night, I had a vision in a dream. In the vision, I saw that one day, each of us will be reincarnated, and that our reincarnations will find a way to return to this time and aid us in our darkest hour."

All of Arthur's court were quite perplexed by his answer, but before he had a chance to explain further, the castle buckled as it was hit by a fireball. Lancelot rushed to the balcony to inspect the damage; seeing a portion of the castle aflame as well as incoming enemy forces.

"Mordred and his men are getting closer to the castle!" he exclaimed. "If we don't leave now, then Excalibur will fall into Mordred's hands!"

Arthur looked around at everyone; seeing the fearful expressions of his wizards and the worried yet determined sights of his knights, but paused when he saw the outright terrified expression on Guinevere, who was visibly shaking while holding Excalibur close to her chest. Arthur walked to his wife, his queen and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking deep into her eyes.

"Don't worry about me Gwen; I know what I'm doing." He then brought her face to his and kissed her deeply, which she quickly returned. Eventually, the two broke apart and Arthur pointed to the door. "All of you, go now!" he ordered. "Lady Vivian will be waiting for you at the canal."

As Guinevere, the Knights of the Round Table, Merlin, Nimue and Morgana started to leave, Arthur grabbed Lancelot and pulled him aside.

"Lancelot, you are my best knight and my closest friend, so I'm entrusting you with a task that I would give to no other person but myself."

"Yes sire," Lancelot responded. "Anything you ask, consider it done!"

Arthur placed his hand on Lancelot's shoulder, "If I don't make it, I want you to take care of Guinevere and protect her with your life."

Lancelot's eyes widened, but he continued to listen. "I know she's going to be afraid, so I need someone who I can trust to take care of her. She is the love of my life and I need her to be strong if I'm not around. Can I count on you Lancelot?"

Lancelot was silent. This was a tremendous task that Arthur was asking of him; not only to protect the queen, but also to personally look after her the way Arthur did. Lancelot didn't know whether he would be capable of carrying out such a request, or if he was even worthy of it. Eventually, after much deliberation, he gave his answer.

"Yes Arthur. I promise absolutely _no_ harm will come to her majesty. On my life."

Arthur then embraced Lancelot, who returned the gesture. "Thank you, my friend."

The two friends soon released each other and Arthur spoke, "Now you had best be going, I will do what I can to hold off Mordred and his men."

Lancelot saluted his king and quickly left to catch up with the rest of the court. Now alone Arthur approached the weapons rack that sat on one of the walls of the throne room and picked up a sword. He then proceeded out of the throne room to the outer wall overlooking the canal that opened out to the river. Arthur watched as his knights, wizards, sister and wife slowly but gradually rode of along the water; in eight days they would reach the sea and be able to make it to the Island of Avalon. As he watched, he turned his head slightly, hearing two slight but distinctive sounds; a pair of armoured boots and a cape blowing in the wind, something he had heard many times before.

Arthur spun around and raised his sword in time to block the blow aimed at him. Standing before him was a man about the same height and was clad in black armour that perfectly reflected the flicker of the torches lining the walls and a pitch black cape. His face was covered up by his helmet, with only small holes showing off his bright green eyes.

Arthur smirked. "So Black Knight, we meet again. How long has it been, six months since you were removed from your position as a Knight of the Round Table?"

The Black Knight remained silent, and just stared at Arthur through the visor of his helmet. Taking the chance, Arthur broke the contact between their swords and began to assault his opponent with strike after strike. But no matter how many times Arthur tried, the Black Knight managed to counter each of Arthur's strikes. As the two fought, they didn't know that they were being watched by another figure in black armour.

As Arthur and the Black Knight continued to fight, Arthur was beginning to back up towards the edge of the wall; due to not fighting with Excalibur, he found the Black Knight beginning to gain the upper hand over him, but still he fought on despite his situation. The Black Knight smiled to himself, knowing his opponent was losing focus. As Arthur kept fighting back, he soon saw an opening, as the Black Knight seemed to be getting tired. Arthur raised his sword, preparing to deliver the final strike to his adversary.

However, before he could make the blow, the Black Knight quickly struck Arthur in the side of his abdomen. Since Arthur had been wearing his normal tunic instead of his armour, the Black Knight was easily able to impale his sword into Arthur's waist.

 ** _"AAAHHHH!"_**

* * *

Guinevere looked back at the castle; as she and her companions were still close to Camelot, Arthur's scream of agony was easily heard by them. Fear instantly grabbed her as she clutched Excalibur tightly.

 ** _"ARTHUR!"_** she shouted, turning to the knights. "We have to go back and help him!"

"Your majesty, we can't," Leon said solemnly.

"Leon is right sister," Elyan confirmed. "Arthur's orders were specifically clear, we can't turn back now."

"I don't care!" Guinevere exclaimed. "I can't leave Arthur to die!"

"Gwen, you know that there's nothing you can do to help him," Merlin said sadly as Guinevere looked back at Camelot, tears streaming down her face. "All we can do now, is follow Arthur's final orders. Keep rowing!" he shouted to the others.

Guinevere knew her companions were right, especially Merlin. She clutched Excalibur closer to her chest, as she knew that the mighty sword would be the only thing she had left to remember her husband, the man she loved above all else.

* * *

Arthur hissed in pain as the Black Knight's sword dug into his waist, blood beginning to pool out. Without a single word, the Black Knight pulled his sword out and Arthur dropped to the ground, his hands clutching his wound to try and stop the bleeding. The Black Knight then grasped Arthur by his collar and forcefully propped him up against the wall. In spite of his pain, Arthur gazed up at his opponent with a small smile on his face.

"So Black Knight, this is how it ends huh?" Arthur remarked, to which the Black Knight didn't respond. "Nothing?" Arthur chuckled. "Mordred would've had something to say if he were here. Maybe a long winded speech about how he's the superior ruler, or a stupid one-liner to mock my defeat, heck maybe even just a good ol' fashioned gloat." Still the Black Knight remained silent as Arthur continued, "You know, if I were to ever die protecting my kingdom, I expected my death to be dealt by _his_ hands, not yours, and I don't even know your name, or what you look like."

It was true, neither Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin, nor anyone knew the Black Knight's true appearance, as he always wore his helmet everywhere he went. When he used to sit at the Round Table, or whenever he was within Arthur and Guinevere's presence, he never removed it. No one even knew the Black Knights true name, he was always simply called or referred to as the Black Knight. He was a man of mystery.

"Black Knight," Arthur began. "If this is to be my final moment, grant me one request before you end my life." The Black Knight stood intently. "Remove your helmet and show me your face."

The Black Knight stared down at Arthur, silently contemplating his request. Slowly, he sheathed his sword into his scabbard and placed both hands on his helmet. With an audible **_*click*_** , the helmet came loose from his armour and he smoothly removed it, dropping it to the ground once it was off. Arthur's eyes widened at the sight of his opponent's face; from the stories he had heard about what the Black Knight looked like, and the reason why he never took his helmet off; many of which included the Black Knight being horrifically scarred in battle or horribly disfigured, Arthur now saw that none of them were true. The Black Knight was quite a handsome man, around Arthur's age, with black hair and green eyes that didn't look so sinister without his helmet; he had but only one scar that went over his left eye.

"Forgive me sire, I didn't mean for this to happen."

Arthur was shocked, not only by the Black Knight finally speaking, but also by his request for forgiveness.

"There is no ounce of honour in Mordred," he continued. "I only wish I had realised this sooner and remained by your side."

Arthur pulled himself up into a more comfortable seating position and looked into the Black Knight's eyes; expecting to see hints of deception, theatricality or even pride in his victory over him.

Instead, he saw only remorse.

"If that how you feel," Arthur said with a cough. "Then all I ask of you now, is to grant me a quick, painless and honourable death."

"But sire, I can get you out of here, Mordred will never know!"

"It's too late for that," Arthur coughed again, blood seeping out of his mouth as he did. "The wound you have inflicted upon me is fatal. Even if I was able to escape Camelot before Mordred found me, I wouldn't be able to get far before the wound kills me."

The Black Knight knew Arthur was right and that what he had to do wouldn't be easy. Arthur was, in many ways, his true king, not Mordred. Mordred wanted the throne of Camelot and Arthur's sword Excalibur, but that would never make him a true king. A true king, like Arthur, led with his heart, not with his rage. Mordred was, if anything, a false king.

The Black Knight picked up his helmet, and replaced it back over his head, covering his face once again. He then drew his sword out of his scabbard and readied himself to deliver the merciful killing strike.

"For what it's worth sire, I am truly sorry," he said sadly.

"It's all right Black Knight, all is forgiven," Arthur said through his coughs. "From what I've witnessed while you served me to our encounter now, you truly are an honourable knight."

The Black Knight then raised his sword, aimed directly at Arthur's heart. "Long live the King!" he declared, seeing the content, even happy look on Arthur's face.

But before the Black Knight could deliver the strike, the blade of another sword impaled his armour from behind. The Black Knight gasped in shock as he looked down at the blood stained weapon protruding from his chest, dropping his own sword. Arthur's content expression turned to one of horror.

 ** _"NOOO!"_**

The unseen attacker drew back his sword from the Black Knight's body, causing him to stagger forward towards the edge of the wall. The Black Knight leaned on the stone and looked down at Arthur, who's eyes never left the sight of his former ally.

"Forgive me your majesty, for I have failed you."

And with that, the Black Knight slipped over the edge of the wall and fell to the river below. Arthur used whatever strength he had left to pull himself up to the edge and watched as the Black Knights body fell to the water.

 ** _*SPLASH*_**

Arthur fell back to the ground and looked up at the face of the man who had cowardly killed the Black Knight. He was much taller than Arthur, he sported an ochre coloured tunic with tan details. Stocky dark brown armour covered up his chest, arms and legs, which had incredibly sharp spikes sticking out from the hinges and on his head stood Arthur's crown; no doubt stolen from his throne during his duel. He looked down at Arthur was a smug look on his face as he wiped away the Black Knight's blood from his sword with a cloth.

 ** _"You!"_** Arthur seethed.

"'ello sire, long time no see," Mordred said nonchalantly.

Arthur scowled in response. "So this is it huh," he asked rhetorically. "You're just going to stand there and watch as I die a long, slow and painful death?"

"Hmm, as tempting as that is," Mordred said. "I don't really want to pass up a perfect opportunity to kill you with the very sword you swore to project your pathetic kingdom with." Mordred then picked up the sword that Arthur had used to fight the Black Knight. "And now, with Excalibur in my hands, not only will I end you, but I shall rule all of..."

But Mordred suddenly stopped and took a close look at the sword in his hands. His eyes quickly widened in surprise and fury.

"This isn't Excalibur!" he exclaimed, grabbing Arthur by his collar roughly pulling him up to his own face. **_"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"_**

"You're too late... Mordred," Arthur wheezed. "Excalibur is... long gone now... safely somewhere you will never find it."

Mordred's angry grimace soon turned back into an evil smile.

"Oh is that so?" he asked. "Let me guess, you had your most trusted knights, your wizard, and your queen take it to the sacred Island of Avalon, didn't you?"

Arthur's smile vanished and Mordred laughed, knowing he had figured out his plan.

"Hahaha, I knew it! Always so predictable little puffball." Mordred released his grip on Arthur, letting him fall to the ground in pain. He then picked up his own sword and stood over his fallen enemy.

"Looks like I'll have a lot of riding to do, but I might as well kill you before I leave."

Mordred raised his sword, preparing to deliver the killing blow to Arthur. But to his surprise, Arthur rolled out of the way just in time, causing his sword to hit the wall. Taking the opportunity, Arthur pulled a hidden dagger out of his tunic and stabbed Mordred into his side where the armour was open.

 ** _"AAAHHHH!"_**

The dagger had been buried deep into Mordred's abdomen, all the way to the hilt. There was nothing Mordred could do, as he collapsed onto his arms and legs, gasping in pain.

In spite of his own pain, Arthur grasped Mordred by his own collar and slowly pulled both of them up, propping himself against the wall for balance. "If you think, that for one minute that I am going to let you hunt down my wife and the people I assigned to protect her as they take Excalibur to Avalon, then you are very much mistaken!"

 _"No!"_ Mordred spat.

"Come on Mordred, let's finish this the way we started," Arthur said, grasping hold of the dagger wedged into his enemy's side. "Together!"

With the last of his strength, Arthur threw both Mordred and himself over the wall.

 ** _"NOOO!"_** Mordred screamed as they fell.

Arthur released Mordred the minute they went over, knowing that their deaths would come soon. As Arthur listened to the screams of Mordred, he looked down towards the rushing water and closed his eyes, prepared for the end.

* * *

 ** _Billinton Manor, Present Day_**

 ** _"AAAHHHH!"_**

Bolting up from his bed screaming was a sixteen year old boy, with sapphire blue and cobalt blue hair. He panted heavily, trying to calm himself down from the nightmare, just as a knock came from his door.

"Thomas? Are you okay?" asked a soft yet concerned female voice.

The young boy, Thomas Billinton knew that voice anywhere. The door opened and he saw his girlfriend, sixteen year old Lady Stone; wearing a magenta coloured nightie with gold highlights on the collar, cuffs and along the hem. She was truly a sight to behold; her golden blonde hair flowed down to her shoulders, her stunning gold eyes sparkled like stars and her nightie didn't hide her glorious figure or her C-cup sized breasts; puberty having blessed her immensely. Thomas considered himself to be the luckiest boy in the world to have someone as majestic as Lady as his special someone.

As Lady stepped inside, following her were Thomas' twelve year old twin sisters, Annie and Clarabel. While Annie had blue eyes, the same as Thomas, Clarabel's were a pure brown; both girls had orange coloured hair, with Annie normally seen wearing two red bows and Clarabel wearing three, to better distinguish them and both were wearing their respective sleepwear; light brown pyjamas with some gray details. He remembered that his sisters had convinced him to invite Lady over for a sleepover the previous day, which explained why she was in his house at such a late time. His parents, Payne and Marie were just behind them. Payne had blue hair just like Thomas, only his was more darker and had the same eye colour as his son and daughter Annie. Marie had pure brown eyes like Clarabel and slightly darker brown hair than her daughters.

The five of them gathered on Thomas' bed, all looking concerned for the blue haired boy.

"We heard you screaming son," Payne stated.

"Is everything alright honey?" Marie asked worryingly.

Thomas sighed, "Yeah, I'm alright. Just a nightmare, that's all."

"Are you sure Tom?" asked Annie.

"You've never screamed like that before," Clarabel pointed out.

"Honestly, it was _just_ a crazy nightmare," Thomas assured. "Nothing to fret about."

"Okay then," said Marie. "We just worry about you Thomas."

"I know Mum," Thomas replied. "I'm sorry I woke you all."

Payne then stood up. "Well you just try to get back to sleep son," he said, patting Thomas on the shoulder.

"And if you have any troubles, you know you can talk to us," Marie stated as she wrapped Thomas in a hug and kissed him on the forehead, much to his embarrassment.

 _"Muuuum!"_ Thomas pouted. "Not in front of the girls!"

Lady, Annie and Clarabel giggled at his predicament, but stopped when Payne addressed them.

"And you girls best be back off to bed too, you've all got school tomorrow." Payne then left the room.

"He's right," Lady agreed, taking Annie and Clarabel's hands in her own. "Come on you two, let's go."

"Oh alright," both girls sighed, clearly in no rush for school. All three girls followed Payne out and Marie released Thomas from her embrace.

Thomas was still blushing from his mother's display of affection. "Did you _really_ have to do that in front of Lady?" he asked.

"No," Marie answered with a smile. "But she didn't seem to mind."

"Go back to bed Mum!" Thomas ordered, pulling the covers over himself. "I'll see you in the morning."

Marie followed her son's request and made her way to the door. Before leaving, she turned back to Thomas and said, "I love you."

"Love you too..." Thomas grumbled from under the sheets, just loud enough for her to hear. With a smile, Marie quietly closed the door.

* * *

About thirty minutes later, Thomas heard his door open again. Peaking up from his laying position, he saw Lady once again.

"Lady?" Thomas yawned. "What are you doing back?"

Lady closed the door silently, walked over to Thomas and sat on this bed, right next to him. "You say that you're okay, but I don't really think that's true."

Thomas tried to look away from Lady, only to have her pull his face back with her hand gently on his cheek. Thomas could see the clear concern in her beautiful eyes. "This is the fourth night in a row that you had these nightmares Thomas, this one being the worst to date," she stated. "Are you _sure_ everything's alright?"

Thomas paused. Lady was indeed correct about the amount of nightmares he had, but even he couldn't explain them. Thomas placed his hand gentle on Lady's cheek, "I honestly don't know why I'm having these nightmares, but it'll be alright, I promise." Thomas then brought Lady's face to his and kissed her; holding her close by her waist while she wrapped her arms around his head. The two kissed for a good solid minute before they break off to take in air.

"I never get tired of that," Thomas said, as Lady giggled. She then pulled the covers up and slid underneath, getting close to Thomas. He was pleasantly surprised, but also a bit cautious. "Lady, you know we might get into trouble if my parents find us like this, right?"

Lady smiled, "Oh stop worrying." She placed her hand on Thomas' chest, feeling his heartbeat calming down. "Besides we're in year eleven, we can be mature enough to not do anything stupid."

Before Thomas could answer, Lady pecked him on the lips again and rested her head on his chest. Her eyes began to close, as she began to fall asleep listening to Thomas's heartbeat.

"Goodnight Thomas," Lady yawned, before finally drifting off.

Thomas held her close as he caressed Lady's golden blonde hair, feeling the smooth silky feeling of her locks underneath his fingers. Soon he began to fall asleep as well, his eyes drifting close.

"Goodnight Lady." But as he closed his eyes, neither he, nor Lady heard what he called her. "Sweet dreams... _Guinevere_ ," he whispered in a different, more mature voice.

* * *

And there we go, the Prologue is out!

Why did Thomas have a nightmare about King Arthur's death? Why did he call Lady "Guinevere"? Where is the Island of Avalon and what happen to Queen Guinevere and Excalibur? Find out as we begin our journey in _Thomas Friends: The King Returns_.

Got something to say? Feel free to do so in the comments section and please no flames or bashing; constructive criticism is welcomed, rudeness isn't.

With that said, I'm DaveMan1000 and I'll see you all next time!


	2. Discovery and Intrigue

Hello everybody, DaveMan1000 here with the next chapter, which took me far longer to edit than I originally anticipated. Once again this story is a collaboration between **JediRhydon101st** and myself. Credit for the story goes to him and definitely check out his deviantART.

Contains elements from the BBC series _Merlin_.

This story is rated 'T' ('12' where I'm from) for some scenes of violence, bad language and sexual themes.

 _Thomas & Friends_ © HiT Entertainment & Mattel

 _The Railway Series_ © Rev Wilbert Awdry

 _Merlin_ © Shine Limited & Shine Group

* * *

 _They're three, they're five, they're eight, they're ten  
Always helpful there and then  
The best of friends you ever knew  
They're the really useful crew  
All with different roles to play  
'round Sodor High or far away  
Down the hills and round the bends  
Thomas and his Friends_

 ** _Thomas & Friends: The King Returns  
_**\- Written by JediRhydon101st & DaveMan1000 -

\- **Chapter 1** -  
 _Discovery and Intrigue_

 _ **Billinton Manor**_

 _ ***Beep-beep-beep-beep* *Beep-beep-beep-beep* *Beep-beep-beep-beep* *Beep-beep-be-***_

Upon silencing the alarm clock, Thomas sat up in his bed yawning and stretched out. Looking to his right, he could see Lady still sound asleep. Thomas smiled at seeing his love looking so peaceful as she rested.

 _"She always looks so beautiful when she's asleep,"_ Thomas thought to himself as he quietly climbed out of bed to start preparing for his morning. Being an engine driver in training, he had to be up much earlier than most people his age, so he let Lady carry on sleeping and made his way to the bathroom.

After a quick shower to fully wake himself up, Thomas emerged from the bathroom wearing his train driver uniform; consisting of dark blue trousers, a white shirt with a black tie and a blue jacket with light blue accents. After quietly grabbing his already packed school uniform from his wardrobe, Thomas made his way downstairs to join the rest of his family that was currently awake. Upon entering the kitchen, he saw Payne, Annie and Clarabel at the table eating breakfast. Payne was wearing the same driver's outfit as him and the girls were wearing their guard uniforms, which were almost identical to his, but with long blue overcoats as opposed to jackets. Thomas assumed that his mother was still getting ready.

Payne turned to see Thomas come in. "Morning Thomas."

"Morning Dad, girls," Thomas greeted.

"Good morning Thomas," Annie and Clarabel said together.

Thomas took a seat and grabbed some toast from the rack. "So, what's our first train today?" he asked.

Payne took out a small sheet of paper from his jacket pocket and began read aloud, "We're pulling the local this morning; so we're stopping at every station until we reach Knapford and there we'll drop you three and Lady off for school."

"Right."

At that moment, Marie came into the room, dressed in the same guard uniform as Annie and Clarabel. "Morning all," she greeted.

"Morning," they all greeted back.

Marie noticed that their guest was absent. "Girls, where's Lady?" she asked.

Thomas tensed up, knowing that Lady was in his room as opposed to his sisters', which his parents were unaware of. Luckily for him, Annie quickly responded, "Oh, we let her get a little more rest. Since she doesn't have to be up as early as we do."

Marie smiled. "Well that was nice of you two."

When Marie wasn't looking, Clarabel sneakily shot Thomas a wink; obviously knowing where she'd disappeared to in the night, to which Thomas silently mouthed a 'thank you'.

The family then settled down for a full breakfast, occasionally talking about anything that sprung to mind. They made sure to leave some aside for Lady, whom they now assumed was awake, as they could hear the sound of the shower running as they ate. After brushing her hair and putting on her school uniform; consisting of a gold coloured shirt with a dark pink and gold striped tie covered up by a dark pink blazer with gold accents, a gold coloured skirt with a dark pink stripe above the hem, gold tight socks that came above her knees and a pair of black slip-on shoes; all the colours being her own personalized choice, Lady was all set and made her way downstairs to greet everyone.

"Morning Billintons," she waved as she entered the kitchen, to which everyone responded likewise.

"We've saved you a plate Lady," Payne said.

"Thank you Mr Billinton," Lady replied.

After finishing breakfast, the Billintons were prepared to head down to the rail yard to fetch their train. Before leaving, Thomas came up to Lady.

"We have to be off now, I'll see you at school," he said.

"See you there," she responded and then kissed him to which he returned. Though she'd kissed him many times before, Thomas never grew tired of the feel of her lips against his. Though their moment was abruptly ended by Payne's voice.

"Come on mate! The train's not gonna drive itself!"

Thomas and Lady quickly broke apart and Thomas looked to see Payne tapping his foot impatiently, Marie smiling warmly at both of them and Annie and Clarabel both smirking and slowly nodding in approval. Both teens blushed from their display of affection and Thomas rushed out the door, grabbing his hat on the way past.

"Ah, that boy," Payne chuckled, following Thomas.

"You don't mind locking up Lady?" Marie asked.

"Perfectly fine Mrs Billinton," she assured.

"Good, have a nice day," Marie replied as she exited the house with Annie and Clarabel close behind.

"Bye Lady!" they waved.

* * *

Upon reaching Tidmouth Sheds, the Billintons exited the family car and proceeded towards one of the berths. They opened the shed doors, revealing an LB&SCR Class E2 0-6-0T steam engine, painted sky blue with red buffer beams, yellow window lining and a black smoke box, with the number '1' on the side of its tanks in yellow and red lining. It had six small wheels, a short stumpy funnel, a short stumpy boiler and a short stumpy dome.

While Marie took Annie and Clarabel to the side of the shed, Thomas and Payne went inside and climbed into the engine's cab.

"Now let's get ol' Thomas on the roll!" Payne declared.

"I still can't believe you named this thing after me Dad," Thomas said, just as a young woman came rushing into the shed, wearing the same uniform as the two Billintons.

"Am I late?" she asked, out of breath.

Payne shook his head, "Just in time Lily. Help us start up."

The young woman, Lily Thompson quickly fetched a bag of coal from outside the shed and brought it to the engine. Payne watch observantly as Thomas and Lily worked together and they soon had the engine's fire burning just right to start moving.

While Lily maintained watch over the fire box, Thomas manned the controls and began to move the engine out of the shed and onto the turntable. Lily hopped out and began turning the handle until they were facing the right track. After passing a set of points and switching tracks, Thomas reversed the engine to a siding next to the shed, where two LB&SCR Stroudley four-wheeled coaches were sitting. They were painted orange-tan with grey roofs and on the side of the first coach was 'Annie' written in white, while the brake coach behind it had 'Clarabel' written in white.

After coming to a stop just in front of the first coach, Lily stepped down from the engine carrying a long pole with a hook on the end. She carefully lifted the coupling on the first coach with the pole and hooked it to the engine. Thomas and Lily waited a few minutes before Marie leaned out one of the coach doors and blew her whistle loudly.

"All set Thomas!"

 _ ***Peep-peep***_

Thomas gave two whistles in return before setting off to start their morning train.

* * *

 _ **Knapford Station**_

Knapford Station was once of the busiest locations on Sodor; branch line trains were coming and going, passengers were flocking all around to their correct trains and every so often a few goods trains passed through on their way to their destination.

The Billintons' train came to a stop at platform 4.

 _ ***Peep-peep***_

Thomas gave two whistles again as the guards at the station opened the coach doors and allowed the passengers to exit, while also letting others enter. Thomas stepped out of the cab and saw both his sisters assisting some of the passengers who were having difficulty getting out. Annie was helping an old woman into her wheelchair that she'd already unfolded for her and Clarabel was hauling some luggage for a small family. Thomas gave both of them a thumbs up when they looked his way.

"So Dad," Thomas began. "How did I do?"

Payne smiled. "Much better than last time," he said, looking at the notes he jotted down. "You kept a steady pace all the way to Elsbridge, but you rushed to Toryreck, causing you to overshoot the platform again."

"I can't help it," said Thomas. "Bertie was challenging me."

"I know you and Bertie have a long racing rivalry, but you can't let it distract you," Payne said firmly. "Now off you go, or you'll be late for school."

Thomas nodded, quickly grabbed his sisters and all three rushed to the exit on the other side of the station. On their way, they ran into a short and stout gentleman, wearing a black tailcoat with grey trousers, a cream coloured waistcoat with a black tie and a black top hat. Thomas and his sisters instantly recognized the man.

"Morning Sir Topham Hatt sir," Thomas greeted.

"Good morning sir," Annie and Clarabel chimed in together.

Sir Topham Hatt smiled. "Good morning Thomas, Annie, Clarabel. Just finished your run of the local? How are you coming along Thomas?"

Thomas beamed proudly. "This morning's run went _flawlessly_ sir," he boasted, while the girls just rolled their eyes.

"Yes, _flawlessly_ ," Clarabel muttered.

"Glad to hear," Sir Topham Hatt replied, having not heard Clarabel. "Now you three best be getting to school now, I'll see you there."

"Bye sir!" they called as they dashed off.

Sir Topham Hatt watched as the three disappeared from the station, then he spotted a man in a black trench coat, holding a briefcase in his left hand.

 _"Hmm, that could be the visitor I'm waiting for"_ , Sir Topham Hatt thought to himself as he walked over to introduce himself. "Hello there sir" - the man turned to Sir Topham Hatt - "My name is Sir Topham Hatt, I'm the headmaster of Sodor High School."

The man accepted Sir Topham Hatt's hand in a friendly manner. "Ah yes, you're just the man I wanted to see. My name is Professor Artorius Castus. I believe we spoke on the phone about your Study of Arthurian Legends class?"

"That is correct," Sir Topham Hatt confirmed, taking out his pocket watch. "They don't start until third period and I'm heading down there now, care for a lift?"

Professor Artorius smiled. "That would be lovely, thank you. Do you own an engine?"

Sir Topham Hatt chuckled. "No, I'm not that fortunate. But I do have a railway inspection car that I received after working on the railway for twenty years, before I became headmaster of the school. It's small thing, but it gets me where I need to go."

"Then let us be on our way," Professor Artorius said.

"Right this way."

The two gentlemen walked over to a red convertible railway inspection car parked on a siding just outside the station. The car had a name plaque that read 'Winston' on the side with a young, fairly recently high school graduated young man in a red railway uniform standing by it. The young man quickly opened the doors, allowing Sir Topham Hatt and Professor Artorius to climb in, promptly closing them behind the two and ran around to the driver's seat.

"Where to sir?" the young man asked.

"Please take us to Sodor High School Winston," Sir Topham Hatt requested. "We wouldn't want the Professor here to be late for class now, would we?"

The young man, Winston replied, "No sir, we wouldn't. And don't you worry, I'll have us there in a flash."

Winston started up the car and set off, but accidentally pushed down the gas too much and immediately braked; the sudden jerk nearly knocked Sir Topham Hatt's top hat off his head.

"Whoops," Winston said nervously. "Sorry sirs!"

"It's alright Winston," Sir Topham Hatt assured. "Early days, early days,"

Soon they were off, gliding smoothly along the rails to their destination.

"I must thank you again Sir Topham Hatt for offering me a lift," Professor Artorius said.

Sir Topham Hatt smiled. "It's no bother at all Professor Castus, and please call me Bertram," he insisted.

"Very well, and you may call me Arthur in the future," he said. "For you see 'Artorius' is the Roman gentile name for 'Arthur', so that's what I tend to go by."

"Well then, it's nice to meet you Arthur," Sir Topham Hatt said.

"And it's nice to meet you too Bertram," Arthur replied.

* * *

 _ **Sodor High School**_

Sodor High School was bustling with activity, as students walked through the halls chatting with friends, or just simply hanging out by their lockers. Inside one of the common rooms, many were simply passing the time until the start of the next class. Thomas had already changed into his school uniform; a light grey shirt with a blue and light grey striped tie with red details, a blue blazer with red and yellow accents, a pair of black trousers, blue socks and a pair of black shoes; all colours of his choice, as were everyone else's. He was currently chatting with his best friend Percy Avonside, who was sixteen years old; the same age as him, but stood a little shorter. He had teal coloured eyes and bright green hair; his uniform being the same as Thomas', only he sported a green blazer and had green stripes on his tie instead of blue.

"So that's when I whooshed straight through the tunnel, with Bertie rushing over me as fast as he could," Thomas explained. "But not matter how hard he tried, I made in to Toryreck seconds before him."

"Nice," Percy commented. "Did you actually stop to take on water this time?"

Thomas chuckled. "Yes, I remembered to take water," he said, before going quiet. "Kinda hard to forget after the things Lily barked at me last time," he whispered to himself, shuddering.

"Hey at least you learned from your mistake," Percy pointed out, before deciding to change the topic. "So how have you and Lady been getting on?"

Thomas instantly perked up. "We've been great. Mum and Dad love her, Annie and Clarabel practically beg me at every turn to invite her over and I _think_ Burnett is starting to warm up to me... I _think_."

Percy patted Thomas on the shoulder. "Don't take it personally mate," he assured. "He's your girlfriend's dad, he's _supposed_ to dislike you in some way."

"Gee thanks," Thomas said sarcastically before realising something. "Why, does my dad still give _you_ a cold glare whenever he sees you?"

Percy froze; memories of Payne shooting him threatening looks every time they crossed paths coming back to him. It had started a few months ago when Percy began dating Thomas' cousin, Rosie Vulcan. Since she was under the care of Thomas' parents, Payne took it upon himself to ensure his niece's boyfriend knew his place, much to Percy's terror.

Seeing the frightened look on his best friends' face, Thomas smirked and patted Percy on the shoulder. _"Don't take it personally mate,"_ he said, mimicking Percy's voice. _"He's your girlfriend's uncle, he's_ supposed _to dislike you in some way."_

"Brilliant," Percy huffed to which Thomas sniggered at. After a while though, Percy couldn't help but start laughing too.

Lady was in another part of the room mingling with some of her female friends; Emily, Ashima and Mavis. Emily Stirling was a tall sixteen year old girl with bluish green eyes and long emerald green hair. She wore the same uniform as every other female student; her colour choices being a green blazer with gold details, a black shirt with a green and black striped tie with gold details, a black skirt with a gold stripe above the hem, green tight socks and black shoes. Though the most eye grabbing thing about Emily was her incredibly blessed physique; she had a smooth hourglass figure and a firm DD-cup bust, something no piece of clothing could ever hide, much to her constant nuisance. While any other girl would take pride in having a body like hers, Emily constantly states that puberty had been 'too kind' to her.

Ashima Nilgiri was a transfer student from India. Though also sixteen, she stood the tallest of the four girls, with long flowing black hair that had pink and blue highlights. She also had a much darker skin tone than the others. Her uniform colours were a bit more expressive; a pink blazer with orange and white details, a black shirt with a pink and dark blue striped tie with orange details, a dark blue skirt with a white stripe above the hem, green tight socks and black shoes. Due to her tall stature, slight bulk to her figure and ample C-cup chest, many assume her to be much older than she actually is.

Mavis Drewry; while the same age, was the shortest of the three girls, though quite strong looking by comparison. She had light purple eyes, shoulder length black hair with yellow highlights and her uniform consisted of a black blazer covering up a yellow shirt with and black and yellow striped tie, a yellow skirt with a black stripe above the hem, yellow tight socks and black shoes. Mavis wasn't as gifted in the beauty department as Lady, Emily or Ashima, but she liked to think she was an attractive young woman; her slim figure, broad shoulders which complimented her wide hips and C-cup bust definitely drew a few eyes on occasion.

"You actually slept with Thomas?" Ashima asked in disbelief.

Lady smiled at the memory. "Yeah, but all we did was cuddle," she said. "We didn't do anything irresponsible... not yet anyway." The last part she muttered to herself.

"Well, you know we're very happy for you too," Mavis stated, to which Emily and Ashima nodded in agreement.

"Aw, thanks girls," Lady responded, giving her friends a group hug. After pulling away, she asked, "What about you three? How's life treating you?"

"Just splendid," Emily replied. "This morning I managed to secure an important goods train bound for the Mainland; obviously didn't get to take it meself, but it was still good though."

Ashima then added, "I have heard that my father is competing in our family engine at the next Great Railway Show in Rome." She then pulled out her phone and showed the other girls a photo of a beautifully painted and decorated Nilgiri Mountain Railway Class X 0-8-2T steam engine. "This will be the third year my family will be entering the Shunting competition. Hopefully we may actually win this time."

"You know Ash," Mavis began. "Your family engine would be a worthy candidate for the Best Decorated Engine Parade."

"I know," Ashima replied. "But just because it's well painted, doesn't mean it can't do anything else. Father likes to put in more effort than what is needed."

"Admirable," Lady commented.

In another part of the room was Edward Stewart and Toby Holden, who were discussing in depth something from a textbook they were currently engrossed in. Edward was a rather tall and lanky boy with brown eyes and bright blue hair, wearing almost the exact same uniform colours as Thomas, only his blazer was a darker shade of blue and his shirt and tie stripes were pure white instead of light grey and he also sported a pair of blue glasses over his eyes. Toby was slightly shorter than Edward, but had some clearly visible muscle to his frame. He had warm goldish yellow eyes and messy reddish brown hair and his uniform colours were a brown blazer with grey details, a black shirt with a brown and black tie with grey details, grey trousers, brown socks and black shoes.

The discussion both of them were having was... interesting, to say the least.

"Right, but if that was true, then puffer fish would have hands, which they don't," Edward stated.

Toby responded with, "Yes, but if their genetic codes evolved to such a degree, features like that would eventually be possible."

But everyone's peace was suddenly broken by the door swinging open followed immediately by a high and loud:

 _ **"HERE'S JAMES!"**_

Everyone turned in annoyance to the sudden interruption. In the doorway proudly stood James Hughes, a tall and handsome looking boy. He had brown eyes and sported dark red hair that was smoothly sleeked to look as splendid as possible. His wore a red blazer with black and yellow details, a black shirt with a red and black tie, grey trousers, red socks and black shoes. James stood still awaiting a response from the people in the room, only for them to simply return to what they were doing, paying him no heed.

"What? Nothing?" he asked, before walking in to take a seat in a huff. "Fine."

"Honestly James, you really must stop showing off like that," a deep, posh sounding voice came from behind the red-haired boy. James looked to see his good friend Gordon Gresley entering the room. Gordon stood rather tall and was very broad and bulky. He had dark blue eyes, his bright blue hair was neatly combed and his uniform colours were exactly the same as Thomas'.

"Humph!" James pouted.

Just then, another tall and stocky boy entered the room. He had deep green hair, hazel eyes and sported a dark green blazer with red and yellow details, a light grey shirt with a dark green and light grey striped tie with red details, black trousers, dark green socks and black shoes.

"Henry," Gordon greeted politely.

"Alright Henry," James threw in without bothering to turn.

The boy, Henry Stanier quickly took and seat on the couch opposite to James and Gordon, while wearing a big smile.

"Alright, I have just had the best lesson _ever_ ," Henry began. "Hugo dropped his ruler next to Miss Miller and when she bent over to pick it up, I saw loads of leg on her way down and a little bit of tit on the way up."

"You lucky git!" James responded with a grin. Despite his more disciplined attitude, Gordon couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's fortune.

"Oh yeah, and it's all locked away up here" - Henry tapped his temple - "for future use."

"Hey guys," Toby said as he and Edward joined the three on the couches, to which the three boys welcomed.

Having noticed their friends arrive, Lady, Emily, Ashima and Mavis came up to the couches to join them too.

"Morning boys," Lady greeted as she leaned on one of the armrests.

"Good morning to you too girls," Gordon responded as Ashima took a spot next to him and lounged back.

Mavis roughly hopped right onto Toby's lap. "Oof!" wheezed the brown-haired boy in surprise. "Mav, there's got to be a less painful way to get my attention."

"Don't act like you don't love it," she replied, ruffling his hair.

Emily came up behind Henry and leaded over the couch so that she was looking at him. "Hello you," she smiled seductively.

"Hello to you too gorgeous," Henry responded as the two gave each other a quick kiss, just in time for Thomas and Percy to arrive. Soon, all eleven friends were chatting away and getting caught up with one another. Thomas and his friends liked to refer to their unique little group as the 'Steam Team', on account that they were steam engine drivers; some in training and others part-time. While Mavis was the only one to drive a diesel engine, she was still considered an honorary member of the group. Thomas' cousin Rosie was also a member, despite her not even being an engine driver. _ **  
**_  
Unfortunately, their group discussion was interrupted by a deep and gruff voice.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the little blue puffball and his little goldy girlfriend."

Lady tensed up in fear and Thomas grimaced, as they both recognized the voice. Everyone in the room stopped talking and looked towards the commotion. Thomas turned to face the intruder and Lady stood behind him, slightly frightened.

"Hello Diesel 10," Thomas spat; merely saying the name disgusted him.

Standing there before them was the school's top bully, Alexander Windsor the Tenth, or as he liked to be called, 'Diesel 10'. Being a diesel engine driver and having 'ten out of ten' for devious deeds and brutal strength, he adopted his preferred name from those factors. He had messy dark brown hair, piercing tan eyes and wore an ochre coloured shirt underneath a tan trench coat, a pair of heavy dark brown jeans with some small chains dangling from the pockets and heavy black boots. Though his biggest feature was that he had a dark brown claw in the place of his left hand, which ran all the way up his arm and connected to his body at the shoulder. Diesel 10 relished in bullying those he considered beneath him, especially Thomas, his arch enemy.

With him were his lackeys, Samuel and Daniel Doncaster, or 'Splatter' and 'Dodge', as they called themselves. Two airhead dummies who did whatever Diesel 10 told them, but were utterly useless. Splatter had messy purple hair and wore a purple hoodie and grey trousers, while Dodge had olive hair and wore an olive hoodie and grey trousers. Both sets of clothes were very dirty and withered.

Diesel 10 spotted the Arthurian Legends textbook next to Thomas and smiled evilly. "Off to your stupid little Arthur legends class next Billinton?" he sniggered, causing Thomas to glare at him even more. "Figures that a twerp like you would be interested in a class as dumb as that one." Thomas clenched his fists at that remark. "I just don't understand why a girl like Lady would ever be interested in a dummy who believes in legends about a made up king!"

Diesel 10 laughed at his comment and Splatter and Dodge joined in, only for him to whack both boys which his claw. "Can it Splodge!" he ordered, referring to the two by a portmanteau of their names.

Thomas was now very upset, his mouth morphed into a snarl and his clenched fists were shaking. Diesel 10 noticed Thomas' state in the corner of his eye and smiled, knowing Thomas was about to snap. Fortunately Lady saw this as well and grabbed Thomas's hand. Thomas looked back at her, and stared into her eyes.

"Thomas, don't," she begged. "This is exactly what he wants you to do."

Henry then stood up. "Lady's right Thomas," he said. "He wants you to snap, just so he can either beat you up, or get you in trouble."

"He's not worth it," Edward added, also standing.

All of Thomas' friends gathered around him to try and calm him down. Some just stood and glared at Diesel 10 in anger.

"Doon't stoop to his level," Emily advised.

"Just let it go Thomas," Ashima said soothingly.

Thomas looked around at his friends, as they all nodded their heads. Thomas eventually took a deep breath, his anger quickly leaving him. Thomas unclenched his fists, took Lady's hands in his own and walked away from Diesel 10 towards the door, just as the bell rang. Diesel 10 saw this and his smile changed to a snarl. He didn't like it when Thomas refused to fall for his tricks.

"Hey! Don't you dare turn your back on me, Billinton!" he shouted as he charged towards the two, grabbed Thomas' neck with his right hand, yanked him away from Lady and painfully slammed him into the wall, pinning him against it. "If you won't fight me, then I'll just settle for beating you up!"

 _ **"THOMAS!"**_ Lady shrieked, only for Splatter and Dodge to quickly grab both her arms and hold her back. "LET GO OF ME!" she yelled, trying to break free, but both of them were too strong for her.

"Sorry girly, boss' orders," Splatter said.

"We got her boss!" Dodge grinned. Diesel 10 looked back at his two minions, pleased that they were doing something right for once.

"Good work you two, now keep her held there -" he turned back to Thomas "- I want her to see this."

"Lady!" Thomas choked.

"SHUT UP!" Diesel 10 ordered and punched Thomas in the gut with his claw, making the air in Thomas's lungs go out. Thomas' friends looked at each other; though they were all frightened by Diesel 10, they knew they had to do something.

Just then, four other boys came up to the group, clearly intending to fight for Thomas as well. The first one, Montague Swindon, stood about as tall as Toby, had light blue eyes and green coloured hair done in a wild spiked up style that stuck out sideways. His uniform was a green blazer with red and yellow details, a grey shirt with a green and grey striped tie with red details, black trousers, green socks and black shoes. What was unique about him though was that his left leg was slightly longer than his right, causing him to "waddle" whenever he walked, which eventually earned him the nickname, "Duck".

The next two were twin brothers Donald and Douglas McIntosh, who were the tallest of the four boys and looked identical in every way. They had lime green eyes, slightly scruffy black hair and their uniform colours consisted of black blazers with red details, white shirts with black and red striped ties, black trousers, white socks and black shoes. They also sported red and yellow name badges on their blazers, to allow others to tell them apart easier.

The final boy was Oliver Collett, Duck's younger cousin. He was slightly shorter than Duck and wasn't as well built as the other three. He had light blue eyes and green hair like his cousin, only his was thin and neatly combed. He had the same uniform colours as Duck, except all the greys were white.

While Diesel 10 was focused on Thomas, all the other boys snuck up behind Splatter and Dodge. Gordon tapped on Splatter's shoulder, while James tapped on Dodge's. The two looked back behind them and were greeted by two fists flying towards their faces.

"Uh-oh," they both said.

Gordon and James punched Splatter and Dodge simultaneously, making the two boys go out like a couple of light bulbs and fall to the ground. Once she was freed from their grasp, Lady found herself surrounded by Emily, Ashima and Mavis, while the boys marched up to Diesel 10 and Thomas. Thomas had seen what happened, but Diesel 10 was completely oblivious.

Diesel 10 raised his claw and spoke to it, "Alright Pinchy, my little bucket of badness, it's dinner time." His claw snapped a few times as he brought it closer to the blue-haired boy. But just before the worst happened, Gordon grabbed the claw and managed to hold it back with some struggle.

"Huh? What the?" Diesel 10 looked back and saw Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby, Duck, Donald, Douglas and Oliver surrounding him. Through the wall of boys, he could see Splatter and Dodge knocked out cold on the floor. "Ah crap," he muttered.

"I think it might be a good idea for you to let our friend go Diesel 10," Gordon said, clenching his free hand into a fist.

"Or else you're going to be in a lot of trouble!" James added, cracking his knuckles.

"After all, there's ten of us, and only one of you," Edward smirked with his arms folded.

"Yeah!" Percy declared. "So let Thomas go, or face the consequences!"

 _"Aye!"_ Donald and Douglas stated together, putting their best feet forward threateningly.

Diesel 10 looked around and saw that the odds were indeed stacked against him. As strong as he was, he knew was no match against ten people. But just as he was about to let Thomas go, a stern and angry voice thundered into the room.

 _ **"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"**_

Everyone in the room went silent as Sir Topham Hatt entered and saw the scene before him. "ALEXANDER WINDSOR!" he bellowed. "RELEASE THOMAS IMMEDIATELY!"

Diesel 10 quickly obliged and left go on Thomas' neck, causing the blue-haired boy to collapse onto his knees retching. Lady was by his side in a matter of seconds hugging him tight.

"WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT NOW?!" Sir Topham Hatt barked at Diesel 10, who was trying hard not to tremble. Eventually he responded to his headmaster.

"Sir Topham Hatt sir, Thomas and his friends are responsible for this!" he said accusingly, much to the astoundment of everyone in the room who had seen the events themselves. Before anyone could interject, Diesel 10 continued, "Splodge and I were just minding our own business, when Thomas and his friends assaulted us, knocking Splodge out and tried to pin me against the wall. They even threatened me not to cause any trouble, or else that they were hurt me!" Diesel 10 was now on he's knees in front of Sir Topham Hatt, trying to look as innocent as possible.

Sir Topham Hatt could see that between Diesel 10's overreacting and the faces of all the other pupils in the room, that he was clearly making this up. Nevertheless, he decided to play along with his charade a little. "So let me see if I've got this straight," Sir Topham Hatt began. "You're saying that Thomas Billinton, my _number one_ student and his friends, who are also all star pupils, just got up and assaulted you, Samuel and Daniel for no reason whatsoever? And that they threatened you to not make any sort of trouble?

Diesel 10 started to sweat a little bit, as he feared that his attempt of deception was about to be seen through. Toby then stepped forward.

"Sir Topham Hatt sir, we can explain."

"Go ahead Toby."

Toby took a deep breath. "Sir, Diesel 10 isn't telling you the truth," he stated. "It was really the other way around, Diesel 10 tried to beat up Thomas, and Splatter and Dodge held Lady back so she couldn't do anything to stop him. Gordon and James had to knock the two out, so that they could pull Diesel 10 off of Thomas."

All of Thomas' friends and everyone else still in the room all voiced the same thing as what Toby said. Sir Topham Hatt raised his and they all fell silent, he then looked back at the still kneeling Diesel 10 and said sternly, "Wake up your friends and come to my office, _now_."

Diesel 10 did as instructed, after hauling Splatter and Dodge off the floor and shaking them awake, all three marched slowly out of the room to Sir Topham Hatt's office. As they left, the other students applauded their headmaster for his actions.

"Alright everyone, that will do," Sir Topham Hatt said as they stopped clapping. "Now you all best be heading off to class, you're all already late thanks to the actions of Mr Windsor." And with that, he took his leave to deal with the three troublemakers. As the others began to exit the room, Lady was still clutching Thomas tightly with all their friends surrounding them.

"Are you all right Thomas?"

Thomas replied, "Yeah, I am now." He then gently placed his hands on Lady's shoulders and quickly kissed her.

"I was so scared of what Diesel 10 was going to do to you Thomas!" Lady sobbed.

Thomas wiped a stray tear away from her face. "It's alright now Lady, I'm okay." He then looked at his friends. "Thanks for having my back guys."

"Anytime buddy," Percy replied.

"Happy to help," Toby added.

"No problem Thomas," Duck said.

"Besides, you'd do the same for any of us," Oliver stated.

"'Tis true laddie," Donald agreed.

"Aye Donnie, 'tis true in deed," Douglas concurred.

"That's wha' I jus' said!"

"Ah know! Ach, ye're impossible Donnie."

"Ah am not!"

"Ye are too!"

 _"Am not!"_

 _"Are too!"_

 _"AM NOT"_

 _"ARE TOO!"_

The rest of the group laughed as they watched Donald and Douglas argue with each other. Then Emily realised something.

"Wait, who was the one who told Sir Topham Hatt aboot what was happening?"

"It was me," a high feminine voice came from the open door. Everyone looked to see a young looking girl with lavender pink hair done up in curls, navy lilac eyes and freckles on her face. Her uniform consisted of a pink blazer with cherry red details, a light grey shirt with a pink and cherry red tie with light grey details, a cherry red skirt with light grey stripe above the hem, pink tight socks and black shoes. Unlike the other girls, she didn't have quite as eye-grabbing a physique; with her figure being quite narrow and her chest barely reaching a B-cup in size.

Thomas brightened up even more at the sight of the girl.

"Rosie!" He smiled as he embraced his cousin, to which she returned.

"As soon as I saw Diesel 10, I had to do something," she said as Thomas released her.

"Well it was some great thinking that prevented a huge fight from breaking out," Ashima said.

"Um, I don't mean to break up the tender moment here," James began. "But shouldn't we have been in class five minutes ago?"

Everyone looked at the clock and gasped. Class had already started and they were all late. They immediately rushed out of the room to their scheduled class, the Study of Arthurian Legends.

* * *

The group of friends burst through the classroom door just as their teacher, Mr O'Bryan was about to start his lesson introduction. Everyone turned their heads towards the sight of the sixteen teenagers all trying to cram through the open door and failing miserably.

"Hey! Watch it!" James shouted.

"Break it up!" Duck ordered.

"Get oot of the way!" Emily demanded.

"Make room!" Percy barked.

 _"Alright, STOP!"_

The Steam Team and their six friends all halted their efforts to enter upon hearing Mr O'Bryan. "All of you, single file!" he instructed.

Following the instructions, the group of friends managed to step inside the classroom without hurting each other. "Sir," Thomas began. "Sorry for being so late, but-"

"I know why you're all late Thomas," Mr O'Bryan interrupted. "Sir Topham Hatt informed me earlier about Mr Windsor's actions and I'm glad to see you're all alright."

"Thank you sir."

"Now, you lot haven't missed anything," Mr O'Bryan said. "So please take your seats and I'll start from the beginning."

Thomas and his friends all nodded and sat down at their respective tables and Mr O'Bryan began his introduction again.

"Now, as I was saying; today will unfortunately be my last day teaching Arthurian Legends, as I will be transferred to ordinary English for the foreseeable future."

The students in the classroom groaned at Mr O'Bryan's news, as he was their favourite teacher.

"I know you're all disappointed, and I will miss you all too," Mr O'Bryan continued. "However, your new teacher is an expert on the topic and will surely be able to guide you all well in this field as I have done. Sir Topham Hatt arrived with him earlier this morning, so he should be along any minute now."

At that point, the classroom door opened, and the students turned to see who had entered. In the doorway, was Sir Topham Hatt and Professor Arthur. Thomas and his friends were pleased to see their headmaster visiting their classroom, and rose up to show their respects to him.

"Sir Topham Hatt, sir!" everyone announced.

Sir Topham Hatt chuckled at the display. "No, no, please take your seats, there's no need for that."

The students did as they were told and retook their seats. Mr O'Bryan walked up to Sir Topham Hatt and Professor Arthur, shaking their hands.

"Sir Topham Hatt, sir," he said. "Thank you for bringing our visitor here, and for visiting the classroom yourself."

"It's quite all right Shaun," Sir Topham Hatt responded. "It was my pleasure after all." He then spoke to Professor Arthur and shook his hand, "Well Arthur, I shall leave this class in your capable hands."

"Thank you Bertram," he smiled. "And thank you once again for the ride here."

Sir Topham Hatt waved good-bye as he left the classroom, returning to his office. Professor Arthur walked up to the front to the classroom with Mr O'Bryan, who then turned around to address the class.

"Everyone, I want you all to meet-"

"Professor Artorius Castus, the leading and highly respected expert on Arthurian Legends!" Thomas gasped. "He's written tons of books on the multitudes of legends that exist, and the many theories on whether or not King Arthur truly existed!" Mr O'Bryan merely smiled as his star student introduced the visitor for him, while Professor Arthur nodded at the impressive display Thomas was giving. "I've read every single one of your books sir, at least so far. I haven't had a chance to read all of them yet, but I'm getting close to finishing them!"

"Really?" Professor Arthur wondered. "Is that so?"

"You'd better believe it," Gordon said. "Thomas isn't joking when he says that."

"Thomas is an absolute King Arthur fanatic!" James announced.

"It's true," Emily agreed. "He's read just about every book there is on King Arthur."

Thomas simply blushed in embarrassment as the rest of the students laughed. Thomas then felt something on his hand and looked to see that Lady had reached over and gently placed her hand on his. Thomas smiled, knowing that he had his girlfriend's support. Unbeknownst to them or anyone else, Professor Arthur saw this and raised his eyebrow in deep thought.

"All right, all right, that's enough!" Mr O'Bryan shouted and everyone quieted down. "That's better. Now, Professor Artorius here will be taking over as your teacher in the Study of Arthurian Legends from here on out."

All the students, especially Thomas, were surprised by this and sat up in their seats.

"Now then," Mr O'Bryan began. "I'll turn the class over to Professor Artorius."

"Thank you Mr O'Bryan," he said. "And don't worry, I'll take good care of your students."

Mr O'Bryan showed Professor Arthur the seating plan, so he would know the names of each student, waved good-bye to the class and stepped out of the classroom. Professor Arthur then wrote his name on the white board; both his standard Roman and English version, before turning back to address the class.

"Good day everyone. My name, as Thomas stated, is Artorius Castus, which is Roman for 'Arthur'. So you may all call me Professor Arthur if you wish." Everyone nodded in response as he continued, "Now, Mr O'Bryan did leave me notes on where you all left off yesterday, so I know where you all are. However, I do want to ask you all some general questions on King Arthur before I go any further. Everyone please take out your notebooks."

Everyone in the classroom did as instructed, pulling their notebooks out of their backpacks and readied themselves for whatever Professor Arthur asked them.

"Now then, first question: Can anyone tell me, what was the royal sigil, or crest of King Arthur?"

Professor Arthur looked around, as everyone looked into their notebooks to find the answer to his question. However, he saw that Thomas had immediately shot his hand up, without looking in his notebook.

"Yes Thomas?"

"The crest of King Arthur was a gold dragon, which sat on a blue background," Thomas answered clearly.

"Very good. All right, next question: What was the last name of King Arthur and his wife?" Once again, Thomas's hand shot up, without looking into his notebook. "Yes Thomas?"

"Well, there have been a lot of different stories and legends pertaining to King Arthur, and most of them don't really specify what his last name was. But all the ones that _did_ , state that his last name was 'Pendragon'." Thomas explained, again impressing his teacher.

"Excellent! Alright, next question, and this should be an easy one: What was the name of King Arthur's wife?"

Professor Arthur expected to see Thomas shoot his hand up again, but to his surprise, Thomas remained still, while Lady raised her hand instead. "Yes... Lady?" he asked.

"Correct sir," she said. "The name of King Arthur's wife was Queen Guinevere sir and in all of the stories and legends, she is described as a beautiful woman, who Arthur loved with all his heart."

"Hmm, very good. And that is most correct, Queen Guinevere was a very beautiful woman, who was deeply loved by Arthur, who led her people with her heart, much like her husband." Professor Arthur then noticed that Percy had raised his hand. "Yes, Percy?"

"But if Arthur loved her with all of his heart," Percy started. "Why do some legends speak of her turning around and cheating on him; falling in love with Sir Lancelot?"

"Ah, that's a very good question Percy," Professor Arthur commented. "You see, love is a... tricky, sort of business to get into. Now Guinevere did indeed love her husband, but the love she had for Lancelot was equally strong. Of course, she knew the risk she was taking if she was discovered committing adultery. But to her, it was worth the risk to be with the man she loved." Having finished his answer, he decided to move on. "Okay, next question: Can anyone name at least five Knights of the Round Table? Percy already mentioned Sir Lancelot, so who knows any other four?" Gordon raised his hand. "Yes, Gordon?"

"Sir Percival," Gordon answered.

"Yes. That's two, three more?" he asked as James raised his hand next. "James?"

"Sir Gawain," James stated proudly.

"Correct. Two more." Henry raised his hand. "Henry?"

"Sir Leon?" Henry responded slightly unsure.

"Very good. Just need one more." Edward then took his turn. "Yes, Edward?"

"Sir Elyan, sir," Edward replied.

Professor Arthur was most impressed. "Excellent, five for five! That's forty house points for Tidmouth." All of the Tidmouth House students, including Thomas and his friends all smiled at the reward. Professor Arthur then took out several sheet of paper, pens, a pair of scissors and a bowl, and handed them to a student that was the closest to him.

"Now, I've decided to give you all a special assignment. That way I can get a chance to get to know each of you better," he explained. "What I want you all to do first, is write you names somewhere on these pieces of paper, cut the piece that has your name, put it into this bowl and pass it down to the next student. I will explain the significance of this, once everyone is finished."

Professor Arthur watched as all of the students did as he instructed. As he waited, he started writing down the subjects of each of the assignments that he was going to give out to the students, and cut them out himself. Once he was finished, he looked up to see that the bowl was almost to the last student. As he waited, he kept looking at Thomas, intrigued by the blue-haired boy. Professor Arthur subconsciously kept lightly feeling the ring on his finger, a ring that was made of gold, with a blue stone set into it and the outline of a dragon in the middle. Finally, the bowl was brought to him by Emily.

"Here you are sir," she said.

"Thank you Emily," Professor Arthur replied as he slightly shook the bowl in his hands, mixing up the names inside. Turning his attention to the entire class again, he said, "Now, I'm going to go around to everyone and you'll all pull out a name. Whoever's name you pull out, will be your partner for the assignment. If someone pulls out the name of a student who's already partnered up, they are to discard that card and pull out a different name."

Professor Arthur walked up to Lady. "Ladies first," he said, to which everyone laughed. "Um, no pun intended, I assure you."

Lady rolled her eyes as the laughter kept going. She reached into the bowl, and pulled out a piece of paper. She smiled as she saw the name of the person she was going to be partnered with. She looked up, and showed it to Professor Arthur, who read the name out loud.

"First set of partners are Lady Stone and Thomas Billinton." He then continued going around the room, having the students pull out the names of their partners. Once he was done, he returned to the front of the room.

"All right, we all have our partners. Now, I'm replacing the slips of paper that had your names with ones that have the names of what you're all to research on for your assignments." Professor Arthur walked up to Lady and Thomas, the bowl in his hand again. "Now, since you two are the first set of partners, you'll have the honour of picking the first assignment."

Thomas reached into the bowl and pulled out the first piece of paper that he grabbed. However, upon reading what was on it, his face took on a look of confusion, as he handed the paper to Professor Arthur.

"The 'Order of the Dragon'," he read aloud. "Interesting choice."

The students glanced at each other puzzled, then looked to Thomas, hoping that he could provide the answer.

"Um, Professor? What exactly **is** the 'Order of the Dragon'?" Thomas asked. "I've never heard of such a thing in any of the Arthurian Legends I've read."

The entire classroom gasped, including Thomas's friends, as they never heard Thomas say such a thing in regards to his favourite subject. Professor Arthur merely chuckled.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. After all, most Arthurian experts consider the 'Order of the Dragon' to be a controversial and absurd chapter of Arthurian Legends. In fact, only a few Arthurian scholars, experts and believers; myself included, actually give the 'Order of the Dragon' any acknowledgment or credit."

Thomas and the rest of the class listened intently to Professor Arthur as he continued, "According to said chapter of the Arthurian Legends, after the fall of Camelot and King Arthur, it was said that he had his wife, a select few Knights of the Round Table, Merlin and at least three other individuals that he trusted, took the sword Excalibur to be hidden on the Island of Avalon. Afterwards, they created the 'Order of the Dragon', believing that one day, King Arthur would be reincarnated, so as to restore the legacy of Camelot."

"Reincarnated?" James wondered. "What does that mean Professor?"

Ashima answered him, "Reincarnation is like another word for being reborn James. In my culture, it is believed that when an individual dies, their soul is then transferred to a new body and they are reborn as that person. The only thing is that when that person is reincarnated, they don't have any memories of their past life."

"Correct Ashima," Professor Arthur said. "However, when the 'Order of the Dragon' was formed, the original founders believed that King Arthur's, as well as their own respective reincarnations would indeed be reborn without their memories at first, but that they will reclaim them eventually. However, not only is it the duty of the Order to find the reincarnation of King Arthur, they also must keep an eye out for the reincarnation of Sir Mordred, the king's greatest adversary. For since King Arthur is destined to restore the legacy that he and his knights built, it is Mordred's to stop him and destroy his legacy once and for all."

At this point, Thomas was very intrigued by the story of the 'Order of the Dragon' and wanted to know more.

"Now, since you've never heard of the 'Order of the Dragon' before now -" Professor Arthur pulled out a box from underneath his desk. "- I've taken the liberty of bringing some textbooks I had specially made that contain all known information on the 'Order of the Dragon'."

Professor Arthur placed the box on the desk and all the students lined up to take one each. He watched in great interest as Thomas opened his immediately after taking it.

"Now, while the 'Order of the Dragon' is Thomas and Lady's assignment, I still want each of you to at least take a look in these textbooks as often as you can," Professor Arthur announced as the bell started ringing, signalling the end of class. "Okay, that's all for today. See you all tomorrow."

As the students leave the classroom, Professor Arthur watches as Thomas and his friends leave together, intrigued by how close they all are. As they made their way down the hall, Thomas couldn't stop thinking about everything he'd just witnessed.

"I'd have never thought we'd actually get a proper expert on Arthurian Legends to become our new teacher!" Percy exclaimed.

"Or have him recite an entire lost chapter by memory," James added, clearly impressed.

Finally managing to tear his eyes away from the textbook, Thomas turned to everyone and said, "Since we're all going to be looking at this topic in some way, how about a study night at mine tonight? All of us?"

Everyone perked at the idea and they all agreed to meet up after their late day duties at Thomas' house.

* * *

Back in the classroom, Professor Arthur was in deep thought. "I can't help but wonder," he said to himself "Could it be possible that those kids are the ones that we've been looking for?"

Professor Arthur pulled out his phone and dialled in international number. After a few seconds of waiting, someone answered.

"Yes Artorius," a deep sounding voice came from the other end of the line. "What is it?"

"Headmaster Germanius," Professor Arthur spoke clear and crystal. "I've arrived at Sodor High School, and while I am not a hundred percent certain yet, I believe it's possible that I may have found the ones that we've been looking for."

"You've found the reincarnations of King Arthur and his court?" Headmaster Germanius replied, excitement evident in his voice.

"I believe so," Professor Arthur responded. "But as I said, I'm not a hundred percent certain. After all, I've only just met them."

"How many are there?" Headmaster Germanius asked.

"At least eleven of them."

"The exact number that we have been looking for centuries," Headmaster Germanius said. "What are their names?"

Professor Arthur glanced at the seating plan and read off the names of the students in question, "Thomas Billinton, Edward Stewart, Henry Stanier, Gordon Gresley, James Hughes, Percy Avonside, Toby Holden, Emily Stirling, Lady Stone, Mavis Drewry and Ashima Nilgiri. I believe they could be the reincarnations of King Arthur, Sir Elyan, Sir Leon, Sir Percival, Sir Gawain, Sir Lancelot, Merlin, Morgana, Queen Guinevere, Nimue and Lady Vivian respectively."

Headmaster Germanius pondered for a minute before saying, "Keep an eye on them Artorius and get in contact with the headmaster of the Sodor division of the 'Order of the Dragon', he might be able to help you find out whether or not you are correct."

"Very well Headmaster."

"One more thing," Headmaster Germanius began. "What about the reincarnation of Mordred?"

"No such luck with him yet, but I heard there was a scuffle earlier on that involved the students I've mentioned, so there might be a clue there."

"Very well then, be careful Artorius," Headmaster Germanius advised. "Long Live the King."

"Long Live the King," Professor Arthur announced as well.

* * *

 _ **The Refreshment Lady's Tea Shop**_

After school had finished for the day, Professor Arthur was sitting outside the Refreshment Lady's Tea Shop, waiting for the headmaster of the Sodor division of the 'Order of the Dragon' to arrive. As he is waiting, he continued to think about Thomas, and the possibility that he is the reincarnation of King Arthur Pendragon.

 _"I'm certain that the Billinton boy must be the reincarnation of King Arthur. He shows all the same traits as the king. There's no denying it."_

"Greetings fellow member of the Order," a deep yet calm voice said to him. "Long Live the King."

Professor Arthur got up out of his seat and turned to return the standard greeting of the 'Order of the Dragon'. However, when he saw who the headmaster of the Sodor division was, he was shocked. Standing before him was Sir Topham Hatt himself, the head teacher of the very school that he was working at.

Despite his surprise, Professor Arthur responded with the oath, "Long Live the King. I didn't realise that you were the headmaster of the Sodor division of the 'Order of the Dragon'."

Sir Topham Hatt chuckled. "But I knew immediately that you were part of the Order," he said gesturing to the ring on Professor Arthur's finger. "Only a member of the 'Order of the Dragon' is allowed to wear the ring of the Order." Sir Topham Hatt then pulled an identical ring out of his pocket. "As you can see, I have the same ring. I just tend to be careful not to wear it out in public. You never know who might be trying to spy on us."

"I suppose you have a point," Professor Arthur replied, motioning to a spare seat across from him. "Please Headmaster Hatt, take a seat."

"Why thank you." Sir Topham Hatt took his seat and ordered a cup of tea. "So, Headmaster Germanius of the Rome Division tells me that you might've found the reincarnations we've been looking for?"

"Yes sir," Professor Arthur confirmed. "And I have their names with me in case you'd like to know who they are."

"Perfect!" Sir Topham Hatt said as he took a sip of his tea. Professor Arthur presented the sheet of paper with the names of the students. As Sir Topham Hatt looked at the list, his eyes went wide with surprise and splat out his tea, flabbergasted by who his fellow Order member suspects the reincarnations to be. "You believe that Thomas Billinton and his friends are the reincarnations?!"

"Yes sir, I've been watching them all day," Professor Arthur informed. "And my belief has only grown each minute, especially with Thomas being the reincarnation of King Arthur."

"But I don't understand," Sir Topham Hatt pondered. "Why didn't his parents say something?" He then noticed the confused look on Professor Arthur's face and said, "Thomas' parents, Payne and Marie Billinton are also members of the 'Order of the Dragon', as are the parents of Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby, Emily, Lady, Mavis and Ashima."

Professor Arthur was both surprised and confused after hearing this. "Are you certain? Because when I assigned Thomas and Lady to do research on the 'Order of the Dragon', they had absolutely no idea what the Order was."

"It wouldn't surprise me," Sir Topham Hatt said. "Here on Sodor, members are not permitted to tell their children the truth of the Order, until they are of the age of seventeen."

"Ah, now it makes sense."

But Sir Topham Hatt was still puzzled. "But if Thomas and his friends _are_ indeed the reincarnations, why didn't their parents say anything?"

"Perhaps they didn't know?" Professor Arthur suggested. "After all, the 'Order of the Dragon' has been searching for the reincarnations of King Arthur and his court for centuries. We didn't exactly have an exact idea of what to look for in regards."

"True." Sir Topham Hatt then recalled another piece of information he heard. "What about the reincarnation of Mordred?"

"I haven't figured out who he is yet," Professor Arthur replied. "I do have a possible suspicion. But until I know for certain, I can't risk saying it out loud."

"Understood. I think I'd best talk with all their parents, and then we will consult with the Dragon King about this matter."

Professor Arthur gasped. "The Dragon King?! It's still alive?"

"Oh yes," Sir Topham Hatt stated. "After all, dragons can live for thousands of years, unless they're slain of course. And just so you know when you meet the Dragon King, he doesn't like being called 'It'.

Professor Arthur regained his composure before responding, "Yes, perhaps it would be best to consult with the Dragon King. But until we know more, and are certain that Thomas and his friends are the reincarnations, it might be best not to say anything to them. Not yet at least."

"Agreed," Sir Topham Hatt said. "Long Live the King."

"Long Live the King."

* * *

It would appear that things are getting clear and clear. Could Thomas truly be the reincarnation of King Arthur? Who is the Great Dragon? And who is the reincarnation of Sir Mordred? Find out, in the next chapter, of _Thomas and Friends: The King Returns_.

 _ ***Pant* *Pant* *Pant***_ That took a lot out of me... 19 pages in total. Insanity! But it was all worth it in the end. I'd like to point out that the entire first portion of the story up until Knapford Station was written and edited entirely by me; it's my first piece of original content in six years and would really appreciate the feedback.

Got anything else to say? Feel free to say so in the comments section and please no flames or bashing; I welcome constructive feedback, not DEstructive.

As always, I'm DaveMan1000 and I'll see you all next time!


	3. Friends and Family

Hello everybody, DaveMan1000 here with the next chapter, which was actually edited and proofread over a month ago before I started on the previous one. So why not give you all two in one day? Once again this story is a collaboration between **JediRhydon101st** and myself. Credit for the story goes to him and definitely check out his deviantART.

Contains elements from the BBC series _Merlin_.

This story is rated 'T' ('12' where I'm from) for some scenes of violence, bad language and sexual themes.

 _Thomas & Friends_ © HiT Entertainment & Mattel

 _The Railway Series_ © Rev Wilbert Awdry

 _Merlin_ © Shine Limited & Shine Group

* * *

 ** _Thomas & Friends: The King Returns  
_**\- Written by JediRhydon101st & DaveMan1000 -

\- **Chapter 2** -  
 _Friends and Family_

 _ **Billinton Manor**_

Billinton Manor; the home of Thomas, his parents and little sisters, was one of the largest and elaborate mansions on all of Sodor. It had twenty bedrooms, a regal kitchen and dining room, along with a ballroom for parties and get togethers. The Billinton Family were one of the richest families on the island, but they were also humble and hardworking and put more value in their family and friends rather than their wealth. Payne and Marie Billinton treasured the happiness of their son and daughters, and were proud of their many achievements, especially Thomas'.

Thomas, Lady and all their friends were gathered together at the manor, studying for their assignments. As Thomas and Lady were going through the textbook that Professor Arthur provided them, their friends were working in groups on their assignments for the Study of Arthurian Legends. Henry, Gordon and James were researching about three of Knights of the Round Table, namely Sir Leon, Sir Percival and Sir Gawain.

Toby, Emily, Mavis and Ashima were reading up on the four magical individuals of King Arthur's court: Merlin, Morgana, Nimue and Lady Vivian. Percy was partnered with Rosie, and they were studying on Sir Lancelot, the greatest and noblest knight and best friend to King Arthur. Edward, who was the only one who didn't have a partner, was assigned to study on Sir Elyan, the smartest of the knights, and the brother of Queen Guinevere.

Thomas and Lady read their new textbooks from Professor Arthur, looking for any interesting information about the 'Order of the Dragon', and so far, they were finding plenty of it. Even though Thomas had never heard of the Order before, he was intrigued by what he was reading.

"I have to say, the 'Order of the Dragon' is quite intriguing," Thomas stated as he began reading aloud a particular section that caught his eye. _"'The Order of the Dragon' was formed after the Siege of Camelot by Queen Guinevere, the remaining Knights of the Round Table, Merlin and the three Royal Sorceresses, Lady Nimue, Lady Morgana and Lady Vivian. They formed the order after they had brought the sacred sword Excalibur to the Island of Avalon, and made it their solemn duty to safeguard the relic, and locate the reincarnation of King Arthur. Throughout the years they recruited new members, so as to keep the 'Order of the Dragon' alive throughout time, in order to ensure that their task would remain intact."_

"Seems like this 'Order of the Dragon' is a bit like the Illuminati if you ask me," James remarked.

Gordon sighed. "Oh come on James. You spend way too much time on the internet if you actually believe in some crazy conspiracy group." James huffed from his friend's comment as Gordon continued. "I mean, for all we know this 'Order of the Dragon' is nothing but some old folk tale started by some old nutcases back in the day."

"I don't know Gordon," Edward countered. "You shouldn't doubt something until you actually experience it. After all, no one believed that the American rebels would actually manage to beat the British Army during the American Revolution, but they did."

Rosie laughed. "Yeah, we beat your guys butts real good!"

"You know, technically you're part British too, since your dad was originally from England and chose to live in America to be with your mum," Henry stated.

"So?" Rosie retorted. "I was still born in America, so technically I'm American."

Ashima then spoke up, "Yes, but now you live on Sodor, which is off the coast of England. After all, I was born in India, but ever since my family and I moved here to Sodor, we've considered ourselves half-British."

Rosie was starting to get a bit riled up. "Yeah well… I'm only living here because Uncle Payne and Aunt Marie were listed as my legal guardians after my parents..."

Rosie didn't get the chance to finish her sentence, as tears began to form in her eyes from recalling about that specific memory. It had been over a year since Rosie's parents died in a car crash in America, and she was placed under the care of her aunt and uncle. Her friends all knew that talking about her parents was a sensitive topic for Rosie and always tried to avoid the matter.

Though unintentional, Ashima felt terrible for bringing up the subject. "Oh, I'm so sorry Rosie," she said sincerely. "I didn't mean to make you upset or anything."

Rosie sniffed as she wiped some tears out from her eyes. "It's okay Ashima, I just... I just don't like being reminded of what happened to them."

Thomas didn't like seeing his cousin sad like this and wanted to find a way to console her. Then an idea struck him, and he slowly and quietly got up without any of his friends noticing, except Lady, and grabbed his dog whistle off the desk and blew into it.

* * *

Downstairs, Payne and Marie Billinton were chatting with the parents of each of Thomas' friends, Annie and Clarabel were playing some video games in the family game room and the family Dalmatian dog Pongo was laying on the floor by Payne's feet. The Billintons had been caring for Pongo since he was just a newborn puppy, and although he was technically Thomas' dog, since he was the one who mostly took care of him, Pongo was considered the family pet. Suddenly Pongo's ears shot up and he immediately ran upstairs barking

* * *

Within seconds, Pongo came bursting into the room and Thomas began scratching him behind his ears, causing him to start licking his owner in joy. Thomas soon stopped and Pongo moved onto the others in the room, giving each of them a loving lick. Rosie instantly perked up from the dog's affections, while James tried to avoid being licked, as not to potentially ruin his hair, which caused everyone to laugh.

* * *

After Pongo had dashed off upstairs, Payne, Marie and their guests all chuckled.

"Guess Thomas must've blown his dog whistle and called for Pongo," Payne deduced, to which Marie nodded in agreement.

"I'll say this," spoke Nickolas Gresley. "Your son takes good care of your dog. I wish Gordon could be like that with our Great Dane, Mars."

Mina Gresley agreed. "Indeed. We got him that dog in hopes he could learn responsibility. But evidently, that's not the case."

"That's why Jillian and I never got James a dog, or any pet," Jim Hughes added. "He's more concerned about making sure he looks good, rather than taking care of anything else."

"Right you are dear," Jillian Hughes replied before turning to Payne and Marie. "By the way, how did you get Thomas to understand the responsibilities of raising a pet?"

Marie smiled, "Payne and I simply had a one-on-one with Thomas to make sure that he was to take good care of Pongo if he wanted him."

"Yeah, I still remember the day we bought Pongo from the Pet Shop," Payne said. "Remember that dear?"

"Oh of course," Marie responded, a bright smile on her face as she recalled that day. "Thomas was instantly drawn to him when he pawed at the window, trying to get his attention. Thomas' eyes lit up when he saw him, and he practically begged us to let him take the little puppy home with us."

Payne also smiled at the memory. "Yeah and Thomas was only ten years old at that time, and since then he's done a great job taking care of Pongo; he's fed him, trained him, took him on walks, everything."

"Well Thomas is certainly quite the responsible young man," Eric Avonside commented. "Delilah and I have been considering on whether or not to let Percy have his own pet, but we're still not sure if he's ready for the responsibility."

Delilah Avonside quickly added, "It's not that we don't trust Percy, but he's still a bit… cheeky at times, so we just haven't truly decided yet or anything."

Burnett Stone then spoke up. "Well Lady has certainly been an excellent girl lately. In fact, Tasha and I recently decided to get her a pet for her next birthday, but we have no idea on what to get her."

"We've been thinking on getting her a female Dalmatian, but we also know that she likes cats, so we're a little stuck," Tasha Stone put it.

"Just as long as she understands that the pet is 'er responsibility, she should be fine," Sid Stirling assured.

"Aye," agreed Irene Stirling. "Emily's done a great job with 'er cat Fluffy. She just loves that cat to death she does."

Jack Stewart spoke next, "Yes well, unfortunately Edward won't be able to enjoy that privilege, on account that he's allergic to most animals."

"Jack's right," added Hannah Stewart. "Edward was devastated when he found out he couldn't be around most animals. Surprisingly, he seems to be okay around Pongo."

"Maybe he's not allergic to Dalmatians or something?" Manny Drewry wondered.

"Manny's probably right," Minnie Drewry concurred. "After all, we thought Mavis was allergic to animals at one point, but turns out she isn't."

"That's completely understandable," stated Michael Stanier.

Samantha Stanier thought the same, "Yes, very much so."

"So anyways," Payne began, addressing everyone in the room. "How're things going on with all of you?"

* * *

Back upstairs, Thomas and the others continued on with their studies. Thomas was still looking through the textbook about the 'Order of the Dragon', with Lady resting on his bed next to him and Pongo cutched up on her lap. As he continued reading, Thomas felt Lady lean against him and looked to see that she was starting to nod off. Knowing she was probably getting tired, he closed the textbook and wrapped his arm around his girlfriend. When Lady felt Thomas' arm around her, she looked up into his sapphire blue eyes and smiled at him. She then leaned towards him and gave him a quick kiss, before laying her head against his chest.

"Tired Lady?" Thomas asked.

"No," Lady yawned. "I'm just having trouble keeping my eyes open, that's all."

Edward looked up from his own textbook and glanced at his watch. "I suppose that's not surprising, since we've been working on our projects for nearly two hours now."

"Two hours?!" Percy gasped. "No wonder most of us are exhausted!"

Thomas looked around the room and saw that Percy was right; Rosie, Ashima, Mavis, Gordon, Henry and James all looked extremely tired too and would maybe pass out from exhaustion soon.

"Well, how about we call it night then?" Thomas suggested. "We've been studying long enough and it's been a while since we've had a chance to really catch up with each other." He then turned to Gordon. "What about you Gordon? I'm surprised you didn't bring Frieda here with you; how is she anyway?"

Gordon smiled at the mention of his girlfriend. "Frieda is doing well," he replied. "She had her own revision to do today, which is why she's not here. Though she said she'd be coming over later once she's finished."

James then added, "Molly is too. They should be here soon."

No sooner as James said that, the group of friends heard the doorbell ring from downstairs. Thomas's eyes went wide as Pongo immediately leapt off Lady's lap and ran towards the source of the noise, barking like crazy.

"Pongo!" Thomas shouted as he stood up. "Come back!" But as soon as he took off, Thomas tripped over a textbook and landed face first on the wooden floor, sliding out the open door and into the hallway. After regaining his composure, he dashed off where Pongo had ran off to.

Upon seeing the humorous event before them, Lady and the rest of the teens stared blankly at the door before bursting into laughter. After they calmed down, Lady got up and proceeded towards the door.

"I'd better go see if Thomas needs any help," she said. "Especially after a trip like that."

Emily then stood up as well. "I'll go with you Lady. After all, Pongo's a big dog, so Thomas may need at least two extra pairs of hands."

Lady smiled at her best friend's offer of help. Emily then quickly kissed Henry and followed Lady after Thomas.

* * *

When Thomas made it down the stairs, he saw Pongo pawing at the door, barking as he waited for someone to open it. As Thomas pulled Pongo away, Payne walked up to the door and grabbed the handle. He then looked at Thomas to see that he managed to get a good grip on Pongo's collar and that Lady and Emily were coming to his aid.

"You got him kids?" Payne asked.

"Yeah Dad," Thomas grunted as he and the two girls struggled to keep Pongo still. "Go ahead and open the door."

Payne nodded. As soon as he did, Thomas saw two girls on the other side. The first one was slightly taller than him, had light blue eyes, bright yellow hair that was perfectly straight and wore a pair of denim jeans, yellow shoes and a red shirt covered up with thick yellow turtleneck sweat top. She stood with her legs close together and her arms clasped in front of her chest in an attempt to appear less visible… and possibly also because her choice of clothing absolutely failed to hide her sizable D-cup bust.

The other girl stood even taller and looked far more mature. She had long blue hair done up in a ponytail, bright auburn eyes and sported a much more risqué choice of clothing; with a navy blue miniskirt that just reached halfway down her thighs, showing off her long smooth legs, a blue jacket that was opened up, revealing a red tank top that exposed her well built midriff and a considerable amount of cleavage from her G-cup breasts and a pair of black high-heeled leather boots.

Thomas recognised the two girls as his good friends Molly Russell and Frieda Krupp respectively. Emily and Lady let go of Pongo's collar, and went over to welcome them in.

"Why hello Molly, Frieda," Payne said as he stepped aside to let the girls enter. "Please come in, come in."

"Guten Abend Herr Billinton _(Good evening Mr Billinton)_ ," Frieda spoke in her home language. "Und zank you."

"Thank you Mr Billinton," Molly said as she stepped inside. "Hi Lady, Emily, how are you doing?"

Frieda smiled in amusement as she noticed Thomas still struggling with Pongo. "Hallo Thomas. Looks as zough you have your hands full vith Pongo."

Thomas heaved in response. "Yeah, well you try being the owner of a six year old Dalmatian and tell me how easy it is!"

Finally Pongo broke free of Thomas' grip and jumped at Frieda, licking her face all over.

"Pongo, NO!" Thomas shouted. "BAD DOG! BAD! DOWN! Get off of Frieda!"

But to Thomas and Payne's surprise, Frieda was laughing as Pongo continued to lick her face.

"It's alright Thomas," she said as she ruffled his face. "Pongo is just showing his love, aren't you boy? You a good boy? You a good dog? Yes you are, yes you are!"

Molly giggled at the display of affection Frieda was giving. "Looks like Pongo has another fan now."

"Yeah, it definitely does," Thomas agreed.

Payne laughed along with the four teens as he closed the door. Just then, Tasha came into the room, grabbed her coat off the rack and put it on.

"Sorry I have to shoot off Payne, but I'll be right back!" she said. "Teagan called and said that neither Patch or Lily were able pick her up from Dance Class and I have to go and get her."

Payne knew that she was talking about her youngest daughter; Lady's fourteen year old sister Teagan Stone. As a parent himself, he too always put the safety of his children first and completely understood her reasoning.

"That's completely fine Tasha," Payne assured. "Feel free to bring Teagan back here, Annie and Clarabel would love it if she came over."

Tasha smiled. "Thank you Payne, you're most kind. It's not difficult to see where Thomas gets his generosity from," she said, glancing at the boy in question.

Thomas blushed at his girlfriend's mother's compliment. It was true that Thomas took after his father, as well as his mother, in many ways, not just his generosity. He heard Emily, Frieda and Molly giggling, as Lady took hold of his hand and lightly kissed him on the cheek. After Tasha left, Thomas, along with Pongo and the girls, went back upstairs. About half an hour later, Tasha had returned with Teagan, who went to join Annie and Clarabel in the game room.

Little would any of them know, that their worlds were about to be changed forever, as Sir Topham Hatt drove up the Billinton Manor driveway...

* * *

Thomas and his friends are enjoying themselves as they joke and talk while they're studying their homework. Even their parents are enjoying themselves as their kids are studying. But what is Sir Topham Hatt planning as he is about to enter the Billinton Manor? Wait and find out in the next chapter of _Thomas and Friends: The King Returns_!

A much shorter one this time around, which was very much welcome after the last chapter.

Please note, the character 'Teagan Stone' belongs to **Teaganm**. Go check out her deviantART if you want to see some of her material.

If you have any comments or feedback, please say so in the comments section and be nice; no one likes a flamer.

As always, I'm DaveMan1000 and I'll see you all next time!


	4. Memories, Good & Bad - Part 1

Hello everybody, DaveMan1000 here with the next two chapters, and wholeheartedly apologise for the long wait. Once again this story is a collaboration between **JediRhydon101st** and myself. Credit for the story goes to him and definitely check out his deviantART.

Contains elements from the BBC series _Merlin_.

This story is rated 'T' ('12' where I'm from) for some scenes of violence, bad language and sexual themes.

 _Thomas & Friends_ © HiT Entertainment & Mattel

 _The Railway Series_ © Rev Wilbert Awdry

 _Merlin_ © Shine Limited & Shine Group

* * *

 ** _Thomas & Friends: The King Returns  
_**\- Written by JediRhydon101st & DaveMan1000 -

\- **Chapter 3** -  
 _Memories, Good & Bad - Part 1_

Having decided to call off their homework for the evening, Thomas and the rest of his friends were spending the rest of the evening chatting and laughing, enjoying each other's company. Pongo simply rested his head on Lady's lap, who was scratching him behind his ear.

They were soon joined by Annie, Clarabel and Lady's younger sister, Teagan Stone. Teagan resembled Lady quite a bit, only her hair was a bright yellow as opposed to golden and was much straighter, her eyes were a light violet colour and she wore a light pink dress covered up with a dark pink vest. The three girls were chatting amongst themselves about the special website that the twins had created for the Steam Team.

As Thomas was telling the rest of his friends about the race that he had with Bertie that morning, the doorbell rang, and once again Thomas had to chase after Pongo, with Percy following behind him.

Even with the two boys gone, the conversations between everyone still kept going. Lady looked around the room; she saw that Emily was resting against Henry's chest, who had her wrapped in his arms, Gordon was laying down with his head in Frieda's lap, who was stroking his hair, Molly was resting her head on James' shoulder and Mavis was sitting comfortably in Toby's lap.

A good few minutes passed and Thomas and Percy still hadn't returned, and though Lady was content to wait, Rosie was beginning to lose her patience.

"Ugh, what's taking Thomas and Percy so long to get back here with Pongo?!" Rosie asked in an exasperated manner. "Surely it doesn't take this long for two young men to wrangle a Dalmatian."

Frieda looked up at the pink haired girl, an amused smile on her face.

"Beruhigan mein freund (Calm down my friend)," she said, speaking in her home language, which several of her friends were beginning to understand. "You must be patient Rosie, and remember zat Pongo is not a little puppy anymore, but a full grown dog."

"Frieda's right Rosie," James said confidently, interlocking his hands together behind his head. "It takes a lot to wrangle a full grown Dalmatian. I should know."

Frieda merely looked up at James sceptically, her right eyebrow arched up.

"Oh is zat so?" she said sarcastically. "Zen vy don't you go and help Thomas and Percy?"

James merely chuckled.

"I would, but they're big boys, they can handle themselves," he stated, not noticing Frieda and Gordon rolling their eyes at him. "Plus, I have no intention of ruining my splendid red hair."

Everyone just groaned at James comment.

 _ ***SMACK***_

 _ **"OW!"**_

James yelled out, his hand clutching his forehead where he'd been smacked. He glanced to his side where Molly was giving him a disapproving look. Everyone laughed at James as a not so splendid red mark was beginning to form right where Molly had smacked him.

"What the bloody hell was that for Molly?!" he demanded.

Molly just shrugged. "For being a hothead," she answered, making the laughter from their friends even louder.

"Oh burn!" Gordon commented, his laughter possibly the loudest.

"Good one Mol!" Emily said, her eyes watering with tears as she laughed.

Henry was beginning to calm down from laughing, when he noticed that the red mark on James' forehead reminded him of a particular incident that the red haired boy suffered from a couple of years ago. Needless to say, the memory caused him to start chuckling again.

"What's so funny Henry?" Ashima asked him, curious as to why he started laughing again.

Henry had to take a few deep breaths before he could answer Ashima's question.

"Well Ashima, it's just that the red mark on James' forehead reminds me of one incident that happened to him a couple of years ago," he said, still trying to control his laughter. "Just a few months after Mavis moved here. Basically what happened was, James had to pick up some beehives for the Vicar's orchard, and when the porter was pushing the cart that had the beehive, it fell over, and the beehive broke."

As soon as Henry mentioned the word 'beehive', James immediately knew what he was talking about and was about to make Henry stop talking. Unfortunately for him, Gordon decided to take over in telling the story.

"And then the bees were swarming onto his engines' boiler," he explained, trying to contain his giggling. "James tried to shoo them away, and one of them stung him right on the nose!" With that, Gordon couldn't help himself and broke into another fit of laughter.

Needless to say, that everyone except James joined in, but those who were present at the time of the aforementioned incident; namely Edward, Henry, Gordon, Toby, Mavis, Annie and Clarabel were laughing harder than the others. All James could do was slouch on the sofa that he was sharing with Molly, and wished he could sink into the seat and disappear. All the while, his face turned red from embarrassment, as his friends replayed one of the most embarrassing moments of his youth.

"Pricks..." James muttered to himself, before an idea came to him on how to get back at them. He looked over to Henry and Gordon with a confident smirk on his face. "Oh, you two think you're _so_ cool? Well how about this?" he started, directing at Henry first. "'Once an engine attached to a train, was afraid of a few drops of rain'."

Now it was Henry's turn to turn red in embarrassment, as he recalled the time when he stopped his train in a tunnel and refused to come out again, all because he was afraid that the rain would ruin the green paint and red stripes on his engine. He stopped laughing and slinked in his seat.

But James didn't stop there. He then glanced at Gordon, who started sweating in nervousness, unsure of which embarrassing moment James would use against him. He looked to Frieda for help, only for her to stand up and head to another part of room, leaving him to fend for himself.

"As for you fat face," James said as he took out his phone and opened up an online video. The video showed Gordon's express engine stuck in a ditch with him fruitlessly trying to pull it out and three boys mockingly singing in front of the camera.

 _"Silly ol' Gordon fell in the ditch, fell in the ditch, fell in the ditch. Silly ol' Gordon fell in the ditch, all on a Monday morning."_

Gordon's face turned red, as the rest of his friends tried their best to hold in their laughs. "Oh the indignity!" he moaned, burying his face into his hands.

James was smug at getting back at Henry and Gordon. He felt good having reminded them about their embarrassing moments, just as they did to him. Unfortunately, his pleased feeling didn't last long, as Molly delivered a sharp slap on the back of his head.

"James Orion Hughes!" Molly shouted at her boyfriend, making him flinch. Despite being a timid girl, Molly did have a temper if given the chance to let it out. "What have I told about petty revenge?!"

"B-b-but Mols, they started it!" James stuttered, trying to defend himself.

"It doesn't matter!" she retorted back. "What _does_ matter is that you don't stoop to that level!"

As James and Molly continued to bicker, Frieda decided to look at the assortment of souvenirs and pictures arranged on the back wall of Thomas' room. As she scanned through the collection, she recalled a few tales she'd heard from both her friends as well as the ones detailed on Annie and Clarabel's website.

Something she recognised instantly was a large golden trophy inside a glass case; the plaque reading:

 ** _Great Railway Show  
\- Shunting Challenge Winner -  
Thomas Billinton_**

 _"Das war das erste Mal, dass wir uns trafen (That was the first time we met),"_ she pleasantly recalled as she continued to browse his collection. Something else that caught her eye was a loose engine piston with a note attached to it. Inspecting it closer, she silently read:

 ** _A little something to remember our adventure.  
\- Merlin, Lexi & Theo_**

 _"Ach ja, seine 'Reise jenseits von Sodor' (Ah yes, his 'journey beyond Sodor'),"_ she smiled to herself. Though her smile quickly turned into a mix of both shock and amazement at the sight of what was on the shelf above. Displayed inside a glass case was a bloodstained cutlass, with a plaque that read:

 ** _Dead Men Tell No Tales, but I Lived to Tell Mine_**

Frieda was at a complete loss for thought; her hands on her chest as her heart was beating a little faster, her eyes never leaving the weapon before her. She had been told that Thomas has apparently faced off against a pirate one time and didn't come out unscathed, but thought that particular story was too far-fetched. Yet the proof was there, staring her in the face. She was astounded to think that the boy whose blood was coated on that blade was downstairs at that very moment wrangling his dog as if nothing ever happened.

Pushing the imagery out of her head, she decided to move onto the framed photos to hopefully find something more uplifting. The pictures decorated the wall in various ways, some in collages, others in neatly organised sets. She saw various pictures of Thomas with his family and friends; plenty of which were of Thomas with almost every member of the Steam Team as it grew in numbers over the years.

The pictures of the Steam Team were arranged in straight lines in a square shape, from when it was founded to what it currently was. First was one of the original team, consisting of Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon and James. Next was when Percy and Toby joined, then when Mavis became an honorary member, followed by Lady, then Emily, Rosie, Molly and most recently, herself and Ashima.

Frieda smiled as she picked up the group picture of her and her friends in the Steam Team together, with their engines positioned behind them. Gordon had his left arm around her, James and Molly were cuddling into each other, as were Percy and Rosie, Toby had his right arm around Mavis who had both her arms wrapped around his neck, Henry and Emily were hugging each other and Thomas was seated on his engine's buffer beam with his arms wrapped around Lady, who in turn was sitting comfortably in his lap. While Edward and Ashima didn't yet have significant others, they were still happy to be with their friends and even Annie and Clarabel were included in the picture, with Annie standing in front Ashima and Clarabel in front of Edward.

Placing the picture back, she glanced over the various other photos adorning the wall. There were pictures of Thomas with Percy, some with him, Percy and Toby together, a few of him with Emily, the odd few of him with Henry, Gordon and James and plenty of just him and Lady. There was even a picture taken at one of Thomas' parents annual Christmas parties, where Thomas and Lady were kissing underneath the mistletoe.

Frieda smiled warmly at that one. _"Diese beiden sind perfekt (Those two are perfect)."_

There was also a collage of pictures showing Thomas in various countries around the world with another girl. Frieda remembered seeing that particular girl around the school, though she hadn't formally met her. The girl looked to be Thomas' age; she had dark skin, braided black hair and wore an orange and yellow sundress with African patterns.

 _"Ich denke, ihr Name ist 'Nia'? (I think her name is 'Nia'?)"_ she pondered to herself.

She even saw several family pictures of the Billintons together. Ones of Thomas with his parents, sisters and Rosie, Thomas and his sisters, Thomas and Rosie, and Thomas with his parents. There was however, one family picture that intrigued Frieda. It was a group picture of what she guessed was Thomas' entire family together. Frieda assumed that the picture must have been taken when Thomas, Rosie, Annie and Clarabel were fairly young because Rosie's parents were present.

In the centre of the picture were Annie and Clarabel, both ten years old. On Annie's left was a fourteen year old Thomas, followed by Marie and Payne Billinton, and at the far left of the picture, were a couple who Frieda guessed were Payne Billinton's parents. To the right of Clarabel was a thirteen year old Rosie, followed by her mother and father, Angelina and Benjamin Vulcan and on the far right were Tom and Belladonna Vulcan, the parents of Marie and Benjamin.

But the one thing that Frieda felt was off about the picture was that while everyone else was smiling, Thomas' Vulcan grandparents weren't smiling at all. They just seemed to scowl, as if smiling was a crime to them.

Frieda was confused as to why they were the only ones who didn't seem to appreciate being with their family. Picking up the picture, Frieda turned to Lady, hoping that she could help her understand why this was the case.

"Lady, do you zink you can help me to understand something?" Frieda asked her friend, keeping the picture clutched to her chest.

"Of course Frieda, what is it?" The blonde girl responded, curious as to which picture she picked up, though as she did glance behind her friend and noticed a particular one that was missing.

"Zis," Frieda answered, showing Lady the picture in question. "I noticed zat everyone is zis picture seems happy except for Thomas' Vulcan großeltern," she said, pointing to the two figures in the photo. "Do you know vhy zis is?"

Lady shifted uncomfortably, as she tried to figure out how to explain to her friend about Thomas' Vulcan grandparents. Lady had unfortunately had the misfortune of meeting Tom and Belladonna Vulcan, and to put it lightly, it didn't go well.

"Let's just say, Lord Tom and Lady Belladonna Vulcan don't ever smile, unless it's at a social party," she answered, referring to Thomas' grandparents by their respective titles.

"Wait a minute; Thomas' grandparents from his mum's side of the family are a Lord and Lady?" James asked, dumbfounded by his friends apparent noble background.

"Oh for goodness sakes James, do you not pay _any_ attention?" Emily asked exasperated. "The Billinton family have always had a long line of noblemen and noblewomen, but unlike other entitled houses, they have always been respectful to working class citizens."

After hearing that, Gordon loudly cleared his throat to remind Emily of his presence. "I take mild offense to that remark Emily," Gordon stated, his right eyebrow curving up. "I know that I tend to act overly pompous sometimes due to my respectable background, but I'm much better than my cousin Spencer when it comes to showing respect to others."

Upon realizing what she had said, Emily blushed out of embarrassment, while Henry came to her rescue. "I'm sure she didn't mean it like that the way it came out Gordon." Henry started, hoping to both placate his friend and help his girlfriend at the same time. "But you've seen the way that the Billintons always show respect to a lot of people. And the one time _I_ met Lord and Lady Vulcan, they seemed to look at me like I was nothing but dirt to them."

"Eeyup," Thomas said from the doorway, having finally returned with Percy. Frieda handed to picture to him and he took his place next to Lady. "When I was young, Grandma Belladonna and Grandad Tom said that as the oldest, they expected me to ensure that the 'Vulcan family reputation' was upheld," he explained, his tone showing clear signs of bitterness. He took a small breath before finishing in an angry manner. "And about six months after Uncle Benjamin and Auntie Angelina died, they tried to make a betrothal deal between me and some girl I've never even met before!"

Everyone gasped, as this was the first time that they were hearing about this. Annie, Clarabel, Rosie and Lady remained silent however, as they knew of this before.

"Mein Gott! (My God!)" Frieda exclaimed in German.

"(भगवान!) Bhagavaan! (Goodness!)" Ashima gasped in Hindi.

"Those scabby..." Emily spat angrily.

"They didn't!" Mavis said in disbelief.

"Disgraceful!" snapped Gordon.

"Disgusting!" put in James.

"Despicable!" finished Henry.

"What's a 'be-tro-thal'?" Percy asked, confused by the word.

"A betrothal is basically a marriage deal between two individuals of high social status families Percy," Edward began to explain. "It's a sure-fire way to ensure that both families will have an appropriate heir. In a lot of cases, the individuals don't even meet until the actual ceremony."

"Oh, but wait, didn't they know about your relationship with Lady?" Percy asked.

"No, not initially, but thanks to a certain loudmouthed cousin of mine, they did," Thomas retorted, shooting Rosie a cold glare, causing her to flinch. "And because of that, Mum had to work out an agreement with them to meet Lady before they could even decide what to do with my future."

"I said I was sorry Thomas!" Rosie objected, the genuine regret in her voice showing. "I didn't mean to blab out about Lady to Grandpa Tom and Grandma Belladonna. I just didn't like the fact that they were trying to force you to marry someone that you never even met!"

"Yeah well you could've at least let Mum handle it instead Rosie!" Thomas objected. "She was clearly going to tell them that they had no right to try and make an arranged marriage contract with me and a stranger, especially when they required both her and Dad's agreement and authorization beforehand."

"Thomas is right, the parents of both targeted individuals need to agree to the arranged marriage contract," Gordon stated. "Otherwise the deal is off before it can even be put into effect."

"How exactly did the meeting between Lady and your grandparents go?" Mavis asked, looking at Thomas and Lady.

Thomas sighed heavily while Lady rubbed his arm, doing her best to keep her boyfriend calm. She knew how upset he could get when it came to his high society supremacist grandparents. She then turned to her friend, and answered her question.

"Let's just say, it didn't exactly go so well," she replied, as a flashback of the incident began to form.

 _ **To Be Continued**_

* * *

Cliffhanger ending! Which you can easily see the resolution in the next chapter...

Please note, the character 'Teagan Stone' belongs to **Teaganm**. Go check out her deviantART if you want to see some of her material.

If you have any comments or feedback, please say so in the comments section and be nice; no one likes a flamer.

As always, I'm DaveMan1000 and I'll see you all next time!


	5. Memories, Good & Bad - Part 2

Hello everybody, DaveMan1000 here with the next two chapters, and once again I wholeheartedly apologise for the long wait. Once again this story is a collaboration between **JediRhydon101st** and myself. Credit for the story goes to him and definitely check out his deviantART.

Also this chapter introduces one of my new favourite characters. If you've been following me, you know who it is.

Contains elements from the BBC series _Merlin_.

This story is rated 'T' ('12' where I'm from) for some scenes of violence, bad language and sexual themes.

 _Thomas & Friends_ © HiT Entertainment & Mattel

 _The Railway Series_ © Rev Wilbert Awdry

 _Merlin_ © Shine Limited & Shine Group

* * *

 ** _Thomas & Friends: The King Returns  
_**\- Written by JediRhydon101st & DaveMan1000 -

\- **Chapter 4** -  
 _Memories, Good & Bad - Part 2_

 _ **Vulcan Mansion, 1 Year Earlier**_

The Billinton family limousine slowly made its way up the road to Vulcan Mansion; the dark, gloomy and extremely depressing atmosphere, coupled with the cloudy night sky and the overall unwelcoming appearance of the building gave off a sense of immense unease.

Nobody knew that particular feeling better then Marie Billinton, who was sitting silently in the passenger compartment, wishing to savour this temporary moment of peace before the meeting with the Lord and Lady of the house. For this occasion, she made sure to make herself presentable enough for her parents to be satisfied; she had applied a considerable amount of makeup, including lipstick, eye shadow, mascara, foundation and perfume, and her hair was neatly straightened, which gave off a nice shine as the outside lights reflected off it.

She wore a dark blue knee length party dress with red detailing along the hem, along with red evening gloves stretching past her elbows. The skirt split down the centre to reveal a white underskirt. Stitched all around the waist was an image of a golden dragon, with the head showing on the right side of the split and the tail on the left, with some fire coming out of its 'mouth', running along her abdomen. The dress accented her body well, giving a modest reveal of her chest and fitting her figure nicely. On the left side of her dress was the Billinton family crest; a blue dragon with a sword in one of its talons, wings open and raised up on its hind legs as if ready to fly, with the phrase: 'Familia, Amici, Honoris' inscribed below it.

On the opposite side of the compartment were Thomas, Lady and Rosie. Thomas was dressed in a dark blue suit that went down to his mid-thigh, with a light grey button-up undershirt, dark blue trousers, blue socks with black shoes, finishing it all off with a blue tie. On the right lapel of Thomas' suit was the Billinton family crest. As the heir of the Billinton house, Thomas also wore the family ring on his right ring finger; it was a gold ring with a sapphire stone embedded on the top and in the centre of the stone was a bold capital 'B', with the same phrase on the crest engraved around it.

Lady wore a beautiful dark pink sleeveless dress with gold details, gold fingerless evening gloves with dark pink trims, gold tight socks and dark pink heeled slippers. Her usual flowing golden hair was done up in several large braids and she was decked out in plenty of jewellery; a small golden crown, and golden frontlet peeking out from her bangs, a gold necklace, gold star shaped earrings and two sets of gold bracelets, one on her upper arms and one on her lower arms. Her crown, frontlet and necklace were each encrusted with amethysts.

Rosie was wearing a cherry red dress with pink details, pink evening gloves with cherry cuffs on her wrists and upper arms, pink tights with cherry cuffs, cherry red slippers and a cherry red headband. She also sported a cherry red tiara and a heart shaped ruby necklace. Her hair was done up in a thick ponytail with curls coming down on either side of her head. Normally she would have a cherry red bow to accentuate her hair, but had instead opted for a small scrunchie to keep it up, due to her grandparents' disdain for bows. Despite her cheery choice of attire, Rosie herself was anything but.

On Marie's right sat Annie and Clarabel. Annie wore an orange and white dress with black and gold-ish yellow details, brown socks with black slippers and a white neck bow. Clarabel was wearing the same as her sister, only the orange and brown were swapped around. Per their grandparents' demand, the twins had not worn their signature bows and instead had styled their hairs differently from each other; Annie's was doing up in two pigtails with orange bead hair ties, while Clarabel's was curled up at the back and lacking any decorations. Both girls also had the Billinton family crest pinned to their neck bows.

Also accompanying them was the recent addition to their family, Nia Kur-Billinton, whom Thomas had met on his recent 'Big World Adventure'. She was sitting to the far right of Annie and Clarabel, nervously fidgeting with one of her hair braids. She was dressed in a bright orange strapless gown decorated with multi-coloured African patterns, a black bust line that was adorned was emerald beads, and around her waist was a black metal belt with the Billinton family crest attached to the buckle plate. She also wore a triple single bracelet, coloured yellow, green and red on both her wrists and a matching set on her ankles, a pair of yellow heeled slippers and a set of emerald green earrings.

As the limousine drove closer to her old home, Marie was feeling just as apprehensive as her son was about how her strict, purist and adamant parents were going to react to the two people they were about to meet face to face. When they first heard that Lady had become Thomas' girlfriend without their consent, they requested an audience with them as soon as they could. Their request turned into a demand once they heard that she and Payne had allowed Nia into their family when Thomas returned to Sodor with her.

Thomas was showing signs of agitation, as he was not looking forward to the visit with his grandparents, especially when the reasons behind it included Lady and Nia. Marie grew increasingly concerned about her son, as she saw him occasionally throwing angry glares at Rosie, making her cower. Marie allowed a small smile on her face as Lady placed her hand on Thomas' shoulder and started rubbing his arm, visibly calming him down. As the limo pulled to a stop in front of the mansion, Marie looked at the group of young adults with her; she knew that she needed to do this now, before they went inside.

"Rosie, Nia, could you please take Lady and the girls and wait outside the car while I talk with Thomas real quick please?" Marie asked the girl, her concern clearly showing on her face.

"Of course mama," Nia responded as she opened the door and stepped out, with Annie and Clarabel following after.

"Yes Aunt Marie," Rosie replied as she climbed out her side, followed by Lady.

Now alone, Marie climbed over the compartment and sat next to Thomas. She could see the look of disdain on his face and the fact he was taking heavy breaths through his teeth.

"Now Thomas, I know and understand that you're upset," she started soothingly, hoping to keep her son calm. "So right now, I want you to let off some steam, just get your pent up anger out before we head inside."

Marie read her son's body language. She watched as he took a few more heavy, unsteady breaths, until the anger that he was bottling up inside himself was finally let out.

 _ **"WHY?!"**_ Thomas shouted. "WHY DID THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN?!" Thomas slammed his fist down on the seat cushion in frustration. Marie just sat silently as Thomas continued. "Why do Grandad and Grandma always have to get involved in my life?!" he growled. " _I_ say who I want to be with, _NOT_ them! _WE_ say whose allowed in our family, _NOT_ them!" Thomas breathed deeply in a vain attempt to calm down. "I never even wanted those two to know about Lady and Nia at all! We'd be better off that way!" He then faced Marie before stating, "And I'm not sorry to say this Mum, but I _HATE_ them! They've _NEVER_ been supportive of me, _NEVER_ acknowledged my accomplishments, _ALWAYS_ find faults in everything I do, shoot me when I'm down, been nasty to all of my friends and not _ONCE_ have they ever told me they love me, or even _LIKE_ me!"

Marie said nothing as Thomas let all of his pent up anger out, making no attempt to interrupt him. "I know they're you're parents Mum," Thomas said, a bit of sincerity back in his voice. "But I don't want anything to do with them! Even Annie, Clarabel and Rosie hate them! God knows what they'll say to Nia!"

Marie allowed Thomas to calm down a bit before she spoke again. "Thomas, I understand what you're feeling, more than you know," she began. "Don't you think I feel the same way about not wanting Lady to meet my parents? That I don't hate my mother and father either? Because I do Thomas, I hate them as well."

Thomas didn't show much reaction from learning that his mother hated her parents, but he was, inwardly, surprised to hear that. "All the years they spent trying to build me and your uncle up into 'proper heirs', my first eighteen years were hell," she stated. "I don't think I would've been able to make it through it all without your dad."

"Oh yeah," Thomas chimed in. "You and Dad went to the same school right?"

Marie nodded. "Yes. We met when we were your age, and even when I was being pushed to my breaking point every day, in and out of studies, he was always there for me." She began to smile as more pleasant memories came to her. "Once we were both eighteen, we were married straight away and I was freed from that prison," she said pointing towards the mansion outside. "Not too long afterwards was when we had you and were able to properly cement ourselves as 'Lord' and 'Lady' with an heir."

Marie placed her hand on Thomas' shoulder, giving him a warm and sincere look. "You know that I love Lady, as does your dad," she began. "I see the way you and Lady look at each other, the way you talk to each other; I know she is the one you love more than anything." She then added, while making sure to properly emphasize her words, "I'm _not_ encouraging you to get married or have children as early as we did though."

This caused Thomas to tense up slightly at his mother's stern look, before it quickly turned back into a gentle one. "But once you do, just know I would be more than happy to call Lady my daughter," she assured. "Just let _me_ handle my parents, and don't worry about the betrothal contract they're trying to force you into. I'll take care of it, I promise."

Thomas was still unsure about the whole thing, but he knew his mother would live up to her word. "Okay Mum, thank you," he said.

"You're welcome dear," Marie replied. "And _please_ try to give Rosie some slack, she really does regret telling my parents about Lady," she said pleadingly. "You know as well as I that she looks up to you as if you were her brother. It's _really_ hurting her that you won't forgive her for what happened. Please try to talk it out; I don't want to see you two being distant from each other. After all, what does our family mantra say?"

Thomas slowly breathed in before he began to recite his family's mantra. "'Familia, Amici, Honoris'," he spoke in Latin. "'Friends, Family, Honour'," he finished in English.

"And what is the one thing that we Billintons value most of all?" Marie leaned in.

Thomas looked at his family ring, knowing full well what his mother was trying to tell him. After all, in spite of his anger at her, Thomas loved Rosie. She was his cousin, his family.

"Family," Thomas answered with pure honesty. "And family sticks together, no matter what."

Smiling proudly, Marie reached her arms out and pulled her son into a hug, to which he accepted fully; his anger quickly diminishing as he relaxed into his mother's embrace. Marie always made sure that her children knew that she was there for them; and while she loved them all equally, if she had to choose a favourite, something that she would never even consider, it would have to be Thomas.

In spite of his cheeky antics, Thomas always looked out for his friends and family, and never put himself over others. Plus, she could not dismiss the humongous feats he had overcome throughout his life; outwitting a madman to save Lady, recovering Sodor's lost treasure, facing off against a pirate and living to tell about it, winning the Great Railway Show and being the first Billinton to travel all the way around the world.

Marie could never fully express in words just how proud she was of Thomas for all his achievements and dedication to his home, but she knew he had all the trademarks of a true member of the Billinton family. Finally breaking apart, Thomas and Marie stepped out of the limo and the chauffeur closed the door.

"I'll be right out here, waiting for you to be done Lady Billinton," he said, bowing to Marie.

"Very well William," Marie replied, returning the bow. "Hopefully this won't be long, and afterwards, we'll go out somewhere better."

Marie turned and led the kids up the stairs, her facial expression dimming at the presence of the entrance. Like the rest of the mansion, the front door was nothing but gloomy and gray, practically depressing. As the group of seven approached the door, it opened up and a butler appeared in the doorway. He was dressed in an attire that was typical for butlers, but he also had a slicked back hairstyle, and a pair of kind hazel eyes, and a genuine smile on his face, which was lined with wrinkles.

"Why hello Lady Marie, it's so good to see you again!" he said, hugging Marie as if they were family.

"Nice to see you too Cyrus," Marie replied happily.

After they broke apart, Cyrus turned to the kids and bowed to each of the young wards. "And it's good to see you again, young Master Thomas, Mistress Annie and Clarabel, and Mistress Rosie."

"Hello Cyrus," Thomas and the girls said, returning the bow. Thomas could see the look of interest and, if he was reading Cyrus' face correctly, sorrow in the aged butler's eyes.

"And I take it that you must be young Master Thomas' special someone," Cyrus said, bowing slightly to Lady. "Lady Stone, correct?"

Lady blushed and smiled, and returned the bow with a little curtsy, while Annie, Clarabel, Rosie and Nia giggled. "Yes I am." she responded kindly, a smile on her face.

Cyrus then noticed Nia amongst the rest of the girls. "Oh, and who might this be?" he asked curiously.

Nia just stood nervously as Thomas came to her rescue. "Cyrus, this is Nia," he answered, placing his hand on her shoulder. "The newest member to the family."

Cyrus turned to Marie. "Ah, so this is the young girl you and Lord Payne adopted?"

"Yes she is," Marie responded proudly.

"Well then it's a pleasure to meet you Nia," Cyrus said as he bowed courteously. "Cyrus Penworthe, at your service."

Nia also bowed respectfully. "Thank you sir."

Despite the pleasant moment, Marie could read Cyrus' face clearly, and like Thomas, she had noticed the sorrowful look in his eyes. She didn't want to interrogate the only man who had been a true father to her than her actual father, but if her parents had done something, then she needed to know what it was.

"Cyrus, what's wrong?" Marie asked her pseudo father. "What have my parents done now?"

Cyrus didn't respond, as though he was nervous to answer. In the end, he looked at Marie with a full complete look of regret on his face. "Lord and Lady Vulcan are currently waiting for you in the parlour room," he stated. "Along with young Mistress Sasha Belleford."

"Belleford?" Marie asked, confused and trying to remember where she had heard the name from before.

"Sasha? Who's Sasha?" Rosie asked, curious and concerned.

"Mistress Sasha is the young lady who..." Cyrus began, hesitation apparent in his voice, while Marie's eyes were beginning to widen in shock of what her mother and father were doing. "Lord and Lady Vulcan have arranged for young Master Thomas to marry, and she is here to meet him."

"WHAT?!" Thomas yelled out. "What's that girl doing here? Grandad Tom and Grandma Belladonna are supposed to be meeting Lady, not introducing me to some girl that I have no intention of marrying!"

Cyrus looked at Thomas in sympathy. He did not approve of the way that his master and mistress were trying to control their grandson's life, but there was nothing he could do.

"Perhaps, this would be best discussed inside," the old butler suggested, moving to the side, allowing the group of seven inside the mansion.

Thomas was starting to get even more apprehensive. His grandparents were supposed to be meeting his girlfriend, and then they turned around and invited the girl that they wanted him to be with? It was making his blood boil, and he didn't appreciate it any further.

Seeing this, and with great ease, Lady slipped her hand and arm around his, and looked him in the eyes. A slight golden glow emitted from her palm and Thomas quickly calmed down. When she was certain that he was calm enough, she quickly kissed him and looked him in his sapphire blue eyes.

"Don't worry about anything Thomas," Lady said to him. "All we have to do is introduce me to your grandparents, let your mum talk to them, refuse to allow you to be married off to this 'Sasha', and at the end of the day, we'll be snogging like crazy."

Thomas couldn't help but blush as his cousin and sisters giggled at him, and his mother simply grinned and shook her head. Cyrus lead the group to the Mansion's parlour, in which Marie's parents were currently vacant from.

"Now then you lot," Marie said, addressing all six of her charges. "I'm off to find my parents and hopefully put an end to this senseless arrangement. You all just mingle around and stay together until I get back."

Thomas and girls nodded in understanding and Marie took her leave. Now alone, the six of them decided to each grab a drink and tried to act calm and collected, despite their surroundings. Though their moment of peace was interrupted when a girl with platinum blonde hair walked up to them.

The girl was the same age as Thomas and Lady; she was wearing a fuchsia pink dress, which to them looked rather ugly, with similar coloured high heeled shoes that made an annoying click clack sound with ever step she took. She had perfectly manicured fingernails, all done in the same colour as her dress. She also sported, what Lady considered, a large amount of jewellery; six anklets on both of her legs, six bracelets on her arms, all of which jangled loudly with the slightest movement, rings on almost every one of her fingers, a gaudy necklace with a topaz stone shaped like a flower that was the same colour as her dress, and to top it all off, a tiara in her hair. Whereas Rosie's tiara was simple but still elegant, this girl's tiara was bold and decorated with jewels and special stones that glittered very brightly.

Lady expertly took in the girl's appearance; she could see so much makeup that she questioned if the girl was actually real and also took particular notice to the clear enhancements to her body. The dress hugged her body tightly and had a deep V-cut that showed, what Lady considered, an excessive amount of cleavage of her D-cup breasts, but Lady could easily spot a faker and she didn't need to look twice to conclude that the girl's chest, hips and rear were the result of implants.

Even before she'd even spoken to them, Lady instantly didn't like this girl and knew she was nothing but trouble. Her grip on Thomas' hand tightened and her face slowly morphed into a snarl. Noticing this, Thomas started to feel anxious; not only did he have his own temper to keep in check, but also the chance of Lady losing her cool as well.

"So you must be the one and only Thomas Billinton," the girl spoke with an annoyingly high pitch voice that made Annie, Clarabel, Rosie and Nia cringe to themselves. "I'm Sasha Belleford, your eventual bride-to-be."

Thomas tried his best to maintain a somewhat polite demeanour, as a gentleman should always have, but Sasha's attitude was quickly wearing him down, particularly when he saw her eyeing Annie, Clarabel and Rosie with a clear distasteful look, almost as if she was silently judging them.

Sasha's gaze then landed on Lady, noticing her hand clenched tightly to Thomas' and vice-versa. "And who might you be, exactly?" she spat at Lady, the rudeness in her voice evident.

Lady took in several heavy breaths, trying to relax, if slightly, as she felt Thomas rub her hand. She looked up into Sasha's icy blue eyes and steeled herself. "My name is Polly Stone," Lady responded. "But my friends, family, and my _boyfriend_ " – she tightened her grip on Thomas' arm – "call me 'Lady'."

"Really? And why do people call you that? Is it supposed to be a high society title?" asked Sasha, taking a sip of her drink.

Thomas stepped forward. "My friends and I call her that because of her general peaceful demeanour, and her natural beauty," he answered, disliking the way that Sasha was insulting his girlfriend.

Sasha burst out laughing, in an annoyingly obnoxious high pitch laugh that was instantly getting on their nerves. "Oh darling please, you can't be Thomas' girlfriend," she said as her laughter died down, with a cocky grin forming on her face. "He's already promised to marry me, and I have absolutely wonderful plans for us."

Sasha then noticed Nia, and without so much as a second thought held her empty glass out to her. "I'm all done with this, another will be great," she said casually.

The others were disgusted at Sasha's display of pure ignorance, with Thomas looking as though he was about to snap. Nia however remained calm. "Well then I suggest you find yourself a waitress," she responded sourly, crossing her arms.

Sasha was surprised. "But I thought-"

"Well you _thought_ wrong!" Rosie snapped as Annie and Clarabel stood in front of Nia in a protective way. "It's the twenty-first century Pepto-Bismol! You can't act like that anymore!"

Sasha gasped. "How _dare_ you insult me like that! Thomas did you hear what she just said to me?!"

Thomas however looked even more furious than everyone else. "Yes I did," he frowned. "And _NOBODY_ speaks to my sister in that way!"

 _ **"SISTER?!"**_ Sasha practically screamed, though the other guests didn't seem to notice. "That foreigner is your _sister?!_ " Sasha composed herself before continuing. "No wonder Lord and Lady Vulcan have arranged this occasion; the Billinton family has gotten more out of control then we all realized!" She then began to list off some points, "Marrying without benefits, mingling with commoners" – she pointed to Lady – "allowing bad behavior to fester" – she gestured to Rosie – "letting in immigrants" – she shot Nia a disgusted glare – "the list goes on! But don't fret Thomas," she winked at him. "Once we're married everything will be back in order."

Sasha then spun around on her heels and walked away, putting an extra sway in her hips to hopefully catch Thomas' eye. Thomas however was practically shaking with anger at the way Sasha had insulted his family right in front of his face. Lady wasn't doing much better, her scowl now taking on a growl and her free hand was clenched with a golden glow emitting from between her fingers. Rosie stood agape at being accused of bad behaviour by _her_ of all people. Unfortunately Nia was faring the worst; being referred to as an 'immigrant' wasn't something she liked to be reminded of, and despite her best efforts, she began to sob quietly. Within seconds, Thomas pulled Nia into a hug, with the others following suit.

* * *

On the other side of the parlour, Marie and Cyrus were in a heated conversation, until Cyrus nodded his head and headed off in the direction of the Dining Room. Marie then looked at the kids; noticing the distraught look on Nia's face as Thomas comforted her, she began to make her way over to them.

Just then a strong arm grabbed her wrist and spun her around to face them. The person was a man around her age with dirty blond hair. He was dressed in an amber yellow coat that went to his knees, with a charcoal gray button shirt and tie, amber yellow pants, complete with black socks and dress shoes. He also held an expensive cane in his left hand, and had hazel eyes that seemed to look at Marie in a lustful manner, which only made her uncomfortable.

"Marie Vulcan! It's so good to see you again after all these years!" exclaimed the man happily.

Marie had been trying to figure out why Sasha Belleford's name was familiar to her, but now she immediately knew why; the man addressing her was Richard Belleford, the one she was originally betrothed to when she was Thomas' age. Despite her unease of being in the same room as the man her parents wanted her to marry, Marie remained as collected as she could.

"It's Marie _Billinton_ , Richard," she responded in an agitated tone.

"Oh yeah, right. You married Payne Billinton and had the charming young man that my daughter will be marrying," he casually replied, oblivious to the aggravated look in Marie's eyes and face. "I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed that you decided to marry someone else, especially since we were betrothed to each other, but eventually I got over it. As a matter of fact I should thank you for marrying Payne Billinton, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to meet my beloved Mary and had my little princess. Here, let me show you a picture."

Before Marie was able to object, Richard pulled out his wallet and proudly presented Marie a picture of him and his family. He pointed to a woman who Marie assumed was his wife, but she was a bit shocked by the fact that his wife almost had a very similar resemblance to her. The only difference being that Mrs Belleford had purple eyes and the ends of her hair were streaked blonde. In spite of Richard's claim of being over her, the appearance of his wife told Marie otherwise.

"And look where we are now," Richard gleefully said. "Fourteen years later, and your son is set to marry my little girl."

Marie's right eyelid twitched as Richard said that, agitated by the fact that other people seemed to have an interest in controlling her son's life. "And exactly what makes you think that my son will be marrying your daughter?" she asked sceptically, her right eyebrow curved up.

"Because they're an obvious match Marie, as you should realize by now," said a deep voice from behind her.

Marie turned to the source of the voice, and her expression only soured even more. Standing before her was her father, Lord Tom Vulcan. Much like the mansion, he was dressed in dull coloured clothing; he wore a gray button shirt, with gray pants and a dark gray coat that went down to his knees, black dress shoes that had steel toes, in his left hand was a black cane that was topped off with a silver snake head, its mouth open and fangs baring. He had dark brown hair that he had pulled back into a ponytail and imposing amber eyes. He had high cheek bones that, combined with the dignified look on his face, made him look extremely imposing.

Beside him, came the Lady of the house; Belladonna Vulcan. Like her husband, Lady Vulcan was wearing a gown that was completely gray, and had absolutely no special designs or decorations. She had black hair that she had pulled back into a tight bun on the back of her hand, and piercing brown eyes. Unlike her daughter, time had not been kind to the matriarch of the household; there were clear lines of grey amongst her black hair, her face was incredibly wrinkled and her nose was curved upward in a pompous manner.

Noticing who Marie was speaking to, Thomas and the girls slowly came up to them in as much of a calmly manner as they could muster. Thomas was still angry at what Sasha had said, which was prevalent in the frown on his face. Lady managed to retain her composure, but was just as apprehensive as the others were. Rosie was faring about as well as Thomas, though her feelings of disdain at Sasha were quickly gone upon eye contact with her grandparents. Annie and Clarabel were slightly shaking under the mere presence of the Lord and Lady, but not as much as Nia, who was trying to hide behind the others and make herself less noticeable.

Without a word, all six of them bowed in respect to the two Vulcans. Tom gestured for them to stand and Thomas finally broke the silence. "Grandfather, Grandmother," he began. "I'd like to introduce you to my girlfriend, Polly Stone."

"Your Lord and Ladyship," Lady politely greeted.

Belladonna looked Lady straight in the eye. "So, you're the one who managed to _ensnare_ our grandson's affections," she stated, in a hostile tone, while Tom began to walk around Lady, as if he was examining her.

Lady felt extremely uncomfortable; between the glare of detest from Belladonna and Tom looking her up and down with a keen eye. While Thomas had warned her ahead of time about this, it still didn't make her any less nervous. Lady slowly brought her hands to her chest and another slight golden glow came from her palms, which the two Vulcans failed to notice.

With her composure restored, Lady looked back at Belladonna and responded with a great amount of vigour in her voice. "I'd like to think that I _earned_ Thomas' heart and love, Lady Belladonna." Lady also raised her chin up to give off an air of confidence.

While Lord and Lady Vulcan sneered at her answer, Lady could see Thomas and Marie smiling proudly, and the rest of the Billinton family grinning. If there was one thing Lady made sure everybody knew, was that she wouldn't let others push her around, no matter how rich and powerful they were.

Nevertheless, her response didn't seem to deter either of the Vulcans. "That's a sweet statement," Tom said with much sarcasm. "But we put in a lot of effort to find our grandson a worthy partner, and we can't have some low-born _wretch_ tear all that away."

"HEY!" Thomas shouted, angered at what his grandfather just called Lady. "You can't jus-"

"Thomason!" Belladonna interrupted, using the name that she and her husband used to address Thomas. "You will not raise your voice while under our roof!" The strictness of her voice made Thomas stop, but he was barely containing his anger. "Your grandfather is most correct," she continued. "It was hard to get the Bellefords to agree to this after last time –" she shot Marie a cold glare "– so I think you should be very grateful for what we're doing for you."

The rest of Thomas' family could see the enraged look in his eyes and knew that if Thomas didn't stay calm, his temper would become a problem. However, given how the patriarch and matriarch were acting, they felt that perhaps an outburst from Thomas would be validated just this once.

"What you're _doing_ , is attempting to control my life, like you always do!" Thomas spat. "I don't know how many time I have to say this before the message sinks in; who I want to be with is MY choice, what I want to do is MY choice and I am sick of you always sticking your sleazy noises into-"

Before Thomas was able to finish his sentence Lord Vulcan slapped his face hard, silencing him. Thomas brought his hand up to his cheek, feeling the sting of pain from his hated grandfather's slap.

"I will _not_ accept this show of disrespect to your grandmother and I Thomason!" Tom proclaimed. "Belladonna and I were willing to tolerate your father only because he came from a respected high society family, but I refuse to allow you to marry a girl who is beneath us! I did my research on her, and what I discovered was _laughable_ ; sorcerers, 'Gold Dust', 'Magic Railroad', honestly sounds like something out of a children's film!"

Lady was now beginning to lose her temper as well; hearing Lord Vulcan dishonour her heritage like that. But before she could speak up, Annie and Clarabel beat her to it.

"But Lady _does_ have magic powers!" Annie declared.

"We've seen her ourselves!" Clarabel added.

Belladonna merely shook her head before addressing her granddaughters in a more restrained manner. "Now girls, I understand you are young and easily believe these tall tales." She then took on a more serious look, "But what have we told you about lying?"

"They're not lying!" Rosie interjected. "If you just-"

"Enough!" Lady Vulcan bellowed, her demeanour returning to what it was. "Rosie, as a Vulcan yourself, you should know better." She glared down at the three girls and said, "Now you three, repeat what I say; 'I must not tell lies'."

Despite the cold and threatening tone in their grandmother's voice, Annie, Clarabel and Rosie remained silent and firm. Before Belladonna could snap at them Marie quickly stepped in, blocking her.

"I don't think there's any need for that mother," she said, holding her hand out in a 'stop' gesture. Reluctantly, Belladonna backed off. "Now then," Marie continued. "We don't want to be here any longer than we need to, so why don't we wrap up this little meeting so we can be on our way?" She then turned to her final charge and the other reason the meeting was called. "Nia honey, are you alright to do this?"

After some hesitation, Nia stepped out from behind the other girls and approached Lord and Lady Vulcan, trying to put on a brave face despite her incredible nervousness. Out the corner of her eye, she saw Thomas move towards her slightly.

"Hello your Lord and Ladyship," Nia greeted politely. "I am Nia Kur-Billin-"

"No."

Everyone turned their attention to Tom after his interruption. "No! Marie, I do _not_ approve of this!" he snapped roughly. "It was bad enough you let an outsider into your family, who is both not of high class or from this country, but this –" he gestured to Nia entirely "– _crow_ has absolutely no place among us!"

The commotion going on was beginning to attract the attention of the other guests. Then, to everyone's shock, Tom violently back slapped Nia, causing her to trip on heels and land hard on the floor. "Out of my sight you _FILTH!_ " he roared, making everyone shudder.

Between the spiteful glares from both Vulcans, her sore cheek and the amount of eyes on her, Nia couldn't hold back anymore and wept. Within seconds she was embraced by Marie, who held her close as she cried, trying desperately to sooth her daughter.

Not bothering with the display he'd shown to the entire house, Tom redirected his attention to his grandson. "Now I have had enough of this nonsense Thomason, and you _will_ do as I say; first, you will cut all ties with this trollop and agree to marry Sasha Bellefor-"

 _ ***SNAP***_

Tom fell to the floor, clutching his now broken nose. He looked to see Thomas looming over him with an outright furious scowl plastered on his face. Needless to say, everyone in the room was astounded at what Thomas had done.

Grabbing his grandfather his shirt collar, Thomas pulled him up so they were face to face. "First of all, NEVER lay a hand on ANYONE from my family, especially my _SISTER!_ " he yelled, making sure to emphasize the last word. "And finally I am _NOT_ going to break up with the girl that I love and marry some arrogant gold-digging bimbo so you can reap the prophets like the worms you are!"

Thomas released his grip on Tom's shirt, letting him fall back into a laying position on floor, before addressing both his grandparents. "I am _Thomas Payne Billinton_ , and how _I_ live my life, along with who _I_ call as my family and who _I_ choose to date and one day _marry_ is _MY_ choice, not _YOURS!_ "

As Tom was helped back up by Belladonna, he was slowly taking in everything Thomas had exclaimed at him. But no sooner than he had begun to regain his composure, Thomas spoke up again, "And don't think I'm clueless as to why you constantly intrude in my life; all because the Billinton house was loved and respected while you weren't; you hate Grandad Harry, so you think that if you manage to get us to agree with your twisted viewpoints, then you'll have gained some petty victory over him? _Pathetic!_ "

Tom winced at the hard blow dealt to him. "You will never have any control over my life Grandfather, nor will Grandma Belladonna," Thomas continued, his temper refusing to back down. "I intend to live my life the way I intended, and Lady is going to be a part of that life because I _love_ her! She is the girl that I want to one day marry, and _she_ will be the one that I will continue my family line with, not someone who's clearly only out for the privileges!"

Lady was crying with joy at Thomas' words and the rest of his family were amazed at his level of dedication to her. Even the Bellefords were moved by his display. Desperate to regain some semblance of control, Belladonna turned to Marie in an angry manner.

" _Marie!_ Are you not going to reign in your son?" she demanded. "Clearly by allowing him to speak out against his grandfather in a frankly disgusting way, you did not do a good job of disciplining him! Being around those blasted Billintons has made you weak!"

"Oh shut the bloody hell up Mother!" Marie spat back, which caused Belladonna to back off out of shock. "Harry and Ginny have been more good to me than you _ever_ have; they didn't care that I was a Vulcan at the time! Harry could've treated me the same way as he did you, but he believes the sins of the parents shouldn't reflect on the child; something your minds are poisoned with."

Both Vulcans were growing increasingly uneasy; being so used to having control over people and situations, they were now being shot down repeatedly by their own kin in front of every guest in their own house. "I have tried to keep the peace between us, but I am sick and tired of you trying to control my son's life," Marie continued as she wrapped her hand around Thomas' shoulders and embraced him with love and pride. "A life which, as he stated, is his to control, not yours! So if you think that I am going to allow this betrothal contract that you are trying to set up between Thomas and Sasha Belleford to fall through, then you're greatly mistaken! I will never allow my son, or any of my three daughters, or my niece, to be forced into a marriage they had no say in."

Thomas took it from there, intent on finishing his Vulcan grandparents once and for all. "I speak for all of my family, when I say that we don't want to have anything to do with any of you!" he spat at them, prepared to drive the final nail into his grandparents' coffin. "We want you to leave us alone and stay out of our lives! It's obvious that you're only trying to exploit us for your own greed and desire, so why don't you just do us all a favour and _piss off?!_ "

Without giving his grandparents a chance to respond, Thomas took ahold of Lady's right hand and nodded his head to his mother, indicating that it was time to leave; something that Marie completely agreed with. She ushered her daughters and niece and they began to make their way towards the front door. Unfortunately, they were stopped by an enraged Sasha Belleford.

"Now wait just a minute!" she shouted, determined not to let the idea of being married to Thomas Billinton, and having access to the Billinton family fortune slip through her fingers. "What do you think you're doing Thomas Billinton, leaving me like this, when we are destined to be together?!"

Finally having enough, Rosie marched up to Sasha and punched her in her left eye, leaving a clean bruise. As Sasha fell to the ground, Rosie shook her hand, which stung slightly from the force of the punch.

"You stupid cow!" Rosie yelled at Sasha, who now had tears in her eyes. "My cousin is never going to marry you, so deal with it!"

"Yeah and I'd rather have Lady as a sister-in-law, instead of a no good gold digging snobby rich girl like you!" Annie spoke up.

"Me too, and we didn't appreciate those looks you gave us or how you treated our sister!" Clarabel added, a look of absolute fury on her face.

Nia approached her adopted sisters and cousin and placed a hand on Annie and Clarabel shoulders. "Annie, Clarabel, Rosie, it doesn't matter now," she said gently, while also throwing a slight glare at the fallen Sasha. "She isn't worth it."

Rosie and the two younger Billinton girls agreed with Nia, and turned to leave, with Tom and Belladonna Vulcan glaring at their backs. As the Billinton party were leaving, they passed by Cyrus, who handed each of them their coats back as they exited the mansion. However, Marie stopped at the door and looked back at the aged butler.

"Lady Marie? Is something the matter?" Cyrus asked.

After a minute of contemplation, Marie walked up to Cyrus, a desperate look on her face. "Come with us Cyrus," she said, which took him and both Vulcans by surprise.

"Excuse me Marie, what do you think you're doing?!" Belladonna snapped.

Ignoring her mother, Marie continued. "Ever since I was old enough to start education, Father always prioritised teaching me and Benjamin the 'Dos' and 'Don'ts' of the Vulcan house and never actually bonded with us as a real parent. But you Cyrus, you were always there for us; whenever we needed advice, comfort or guidance, you always provided it. And it was thanks to your encouragement that I was able to eventually marry Payne."

Thomas and the girls were surprised by this revelation; they could tell Marie was close to Cyrus from when they arrived, but not to this extent.

"You know as well as I do, that in spite of the loyal work that you give, my mother and father will always treat you as if you're beneath them," Marie said, hoping that he agreed with her. "Come with us to Billinton Manor. You'll be greatly accepted there, and because of everything that you did for me when I was a little girl, you'll be treated like family. You were always the true father figure for me and Ben, so please, leave this place and come with us."

Cyrus looked into the pleading face of Marie and her young charges. He noticed that each and every one of them all shared the same look; hope. He then turned and looked at his master and mistress, and saw the threatening look in their eyes. In that moment, Cyrus made his decision. He stood up straight, took in a deep breath of air, and looked back at Marie.

"I accept your offer Lady Marie, and shall accompany you immediately," Cyrus said proudly, before turning back to his even further humiliated, now former, master and mistress. "Lord Tom and Lady Belladonna, as of this moment, I resign as your personal butler."

Cyrus tore off the Vulcan Family crest, tossed it to the ground and marched proudly out of Vulcan Mansion, where the limousine was still waiting.

"Lady Billinton," bowed William the chauffeur as he opened the door.

"Thank you William," Marie replied as she allowed Cyrus to climb in first.

" _MARIE! THOMASON!_ "

Everyone turned around to see Tom and Belladonna standing at the doorway, both fuming with anger.

" _You walk away now, you better not ever come back!_ " Belladonna declared.

" _You're a disgrace Marie!_ " Tom shouted. " _Both to this house and the Vulcan name!_ "

"Well it's a good thing I'm not a Vulcan anymore, is it?" Marie countered as she stepped into the limo.

"And once I marry Percy, _I_ won't be either!" Rosie chipped in, following her aunt inside.

Thomas then spoke up, "Don't expect an invitation to our wedding when it happens." He then gestured Lady to step in. "After you m'lady."

"Ever the gentleman," Lady giggled as she climbed inside, Annie and Clarabel following suite.

Before stepping in herself, Nia turned towards the two Vulcans with a big smirk on her face. "I'd say it was a pleasure to meet you, but 'I must not tell lies'."

Thomas and Nia fist bumped while the other girls just laughed at the superb burn Nia delivered.

Once everyone was seated, the limousine drove off far away from Vulcan Mansion, never to return.

* * *

And there we go!

Once again, really sorry for the long wait for this one, been having a lot on my plate since the start of the new year.

If you have any comments or feedback, please say so in the comments section and be nice; no one likes a flamer.

As always, I'm DaveMan1000 and I'll see you all next time!


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